Jordan’s Unconstructive Role in West Asia

On April 1, the Israeli regime committed a terrorist attack against Iran’s diplomatic premises in the Syrian capital Damascus.

The Israeli attack resulted in the martyrdom of Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), his deputy, General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, and five of their accompanying officers.

Retaliating against the attack, the IRGC targeted the occupied territories late on Saturday with a barrage of drones and missiles. The legitimate self-defense, dubbed Operation True Promise, has inflicted damage on Israeli military bases across the occupied territories.

Of all the Arab states, Jordan appeared to be the most vulnerable after Sunday’s attack because of its decision to shoot down some of the Iranian projectiles: a favor to Israel that may leave the monarchy facing even greater anger from a public already seething over the war in Gaza, the Washington Post reported.

Sharing a border with the Israeli regime, Jordan hosts the largest diaspora of Palestinians and has historically been considered their greatest supporter in the region, the Guardian reported.

In 1994, Jordan became the second Arab country to establish diplomatic ties with Israel (after Egypt in 1979).

The Arab kingdom said it took military action to defend its territory against Iranian drone and missile strikes, the New York Times said. 

Jordan, which lies between Iran and Israel, had readied air defenses to intercept any drones or missiles that violated its territory, two regional security sources told the Reuters news agency.

Jordan reportedly intercepted missiles near the Jordan Valley and along the border with Syria. It marked a rare occasion of an Arab country appearing to directly come to the defense of Israeli regime, Middle East Eye (MME) said.

Critics assailed Jordan as having helped defend Israel, according to the New York Times.
 
Late last year, Amman asked Washington to deploy Patriot air defense systems to the country to bolster its border defenses, the Times of Israel said.

Officials say the Pentagon had since increased its military aid to the kingdom, a major regional ally, where hundreds of U.S. troops are based and hold exercises with the army throughout the year, reported the Israeli regime’s newspaper Haaretz.

According to MME, Jordan has the largest number of Palestinian refugees of any country, with over 2.2 million officially registered by the United Nations.

The Arab country established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1994 to engage in economic and security affairs, but the two country's dealings have mostly been kept out of the limelight, added the source. 

Jordan has strongly condemned Israel’s war on Gaza, and backed South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice accusing the Israeli regime of committing genocide in the enclave, MME noted.

“But many Jordanians want the kingdom to go further. For weeks, protesters gathered outside the Israeli embassy in Amman daily during Ramadan, demanding its closure and an end to normalization.”

Despite much loud and public anger about the Israeli regime's conduct in Gaza, Jordan came to Tel Aviv's aid this weekend. Jordanians who have protested Israel are feeling betrayed, DW said.

According to the Washington Post, Jordan’s role on Saturday earned derision on social media — with one picture showing King Abdullah II in an Israeli uniform.

The action of the Jordanian government in opening their airspace for Zionists during Iran's retaliatory attack on Israel was a strategic mistake, senior Iranian lawmaker Shahriar Heidari says.
"It is expected that the Muslim countries of the region would support the oppressed people of Palestine and Gaza," Heidari said, adding that although the Jordanian people fully support Palestine, the Jordanian government is acting differently.

He further stressed that although Jordan's action against Iran was not effective, the action itself was very important. "Jordan made a strategic mistake by cooperating with the Zionist regime."

"Jordan did this to please the Zionist regime and the US; In fact, it can be said that the Jordanian government cooperated with the Zionist regime mostly to protect itself and not for the sake of its people."