Increasing protests in the Kingdom of Jordan are leading to concern in the Gulf about their direction. In addition, there is concern that Iran is seeking to exploit the protests in Jordan and work with the Muslim Brotherhood to undermine the Kingdom’s stability. A recent report at Al-Ain media in the UAE examined this issue and is worth looking at in depth to understand the developments.
First of all, it’s worth noting that in the wake of October 7, Iran has sought to set the region aflame by operationalizing its proxies and militias. It prodded Hezbollah to attack Israel on October 8, 2023. It pushed the Houthis to target Eilat and ships in the Red Sea. It then mobilized militias in Iraq and Syria to attack US forces. More recently, it has also prodded those militias to attack Israel with drones.
In addition, the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah launched a drone attack on Jordan on January 27, killing three Americans at a desert outpost near the Syrian border. Yesterday, US forces in the Tanf garrison in Syria also downed a drone flying in Syria near their post. Iran likely viewed October 7 as the first shot in a more protracted war that is designed to bring Hamas to power in the West Bank and weaken the Palestinian Authority. To do this, Jordan has to be weakened, as well as the PA’s eastern flank of stability, guaranteed by the Kingdom’s support for the PA.
In addition, this week, Abu al-Askari, spokesperson of Kataib Hezbollah, threatened Israel and claimed that Iranian-backed militias in Iraq could help arm groups in Jordan to threaten Israel. This shows that Iraqi militias, backed by Iran, are increasingly looking to destabilize Jordan. In the past, pro-Iran gangs in southern Syria have also trafficked drugs near the Jordanian border and clashed with the Jordanian army.
An article in Al-Ain media on April 3 says that “in an attempt to restore its presence on the street and overcome the internal disputes that are ravaging it, the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan sought to exploit the Gaza war to achieve personal gains under pressure from the ‘shadow movement’ that controls the organization’s nodes.” The article notes that there have been protests in Jordan recently and that the Brotherhood is seeking to exploit them to obtain political gains and pressure the King. “The group’s bidding indicated that it has further goals from the idea of solidarity with the Gaza Strip.”
Hamas has roots in the Brotherhood, and the Brotherhood has activists in Jordan. “The Brotherhood organization seeks to implicate Jordan in the raging events in Palestine while creating chaos in the country by expanding the demonstrations and making them unpeaceful, while publishing allegations that increase acts of violence and enable them to obtain more popular sympathy in the region that has expelled them and made them undesirable. In them with it,” the report notes. Jordan has been very supportive of the people of Gaza, has organized numerous airdrops in Gaza, and has supported a field hospital.
In addition, Jordanian politicians and officials have often slammed Israel. They appeared to be more critical of Israel to try to show they are being supportive of Gaza to head off any of the kinds of complaints outlined above that the Brotherhood could use against the Kingdom. Six months into the war, the nexus of the Brotherhood and other forces linked to Iran may be making inroads.
Brotherhood’s chaos plot in Jordan and Egypt
The Al-Ain report notes that the Brotherhood has plans to spread chaos in Jordan and Egypt. The timing reveals a “hidden” side of the story: the Brotherhood wants to heal its internal divisions by “focusing on igniting the kingdom and occupying the group’s organizational bases with protests to cover up the differences and crises it faces.”
The Brotherhood was supposed to be dissolved officially in Jordan, but it acts through its political arm, the Islamic Action Front Party, the report says. The article claims that the Brotherhood in Jordan has many factions and internal disputes due to its history. This is also “attributed to the presence of Jordanians from People of Palestinian origin and others.”
The article says that a “shadow” movement has emerged which focuses purely on Palestinian issues. “This movement is led by the General Comptroller of the Brotherhood in Jordan Abdul Hamid Al-Thanibat (Thneibat),” and he has sought to back Hamas increasingly.
“It is worth noting that the issue of the relationship with the Palestinian Hamas movement was considered one of the most important controversial issues among what is known as the shadow movement or Hamas organization in the Jordanian Brotherhood,” the article says. While the Brotherhood in Jordan says it has no organizational ties to Hamas, the recent protests show how there are connections.
“Head of the Hamas political bureau abroad, Khaled Meshaal, called for escalation on the border with Israel to incite and inflame the situation in Jordan,” Al-Ain notes.
Meshaal once resided in Jordan but was expelled in 1999. He visited the Kingdom in 2012. Hamas was accused of threatening the security of the Kingdom in the 1990s. Israel attempted to assassinate Meshaal in Jordan in 1997, an incident that became an embarrassment for Benjamin Netanyahu during his first term as Prime Minister.
It now appears that Hamas and the Brotherhood want to harm Jordan, weaken the Kingdom, and hijack it amidst the chaos in the region. The article quotes a Jordanian writer asking the Brotherhood not to bring chaos into the Kingdom. There are different trends in Jordan about how the Brotherhood may continue its actions. Some want to pressure the government, and others understand that the group will lose if they increase their clashes with security forces.
“The more extreme movement (the Hamas organization in the Jordanian Brotherhood) raised the idea of the resignation of the representatives of the Islah Bloc, who represent the group and its political arm, the Islamic Action Front Party, in Parliament so that the government would take stronger decisions regarding the war in Gaza,” the report notes. This is all about politics and pressure.
There are also other concerning developments. The group may want to “revive the popular army and arm Jordanians to fight a battle with Israel. It also called on the Jordanians to march to the borders with the occupied territories, which is the same call that was previously made by the military leadership of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, and the leadership of the movement’s political bureau, headed by Khaled Meshaal.”
The report links this to similar calls in Lebanon and Yemen regarding Hezbollah and the Houthis. It says that Iran has sought to open the borders of Jordan and Egypt to fighters who want to attack Israel as part of the “resistance axis.” Thousands of fighters in Syria could already attack Israel from the Golan, the report notes.
Still, it correctly points out that the demand is focused on Jordan and Egypt “in order to achieve the axis’ goals of swallowing up the rest of the countries of the Arab region and subjecting them to the Iranian project, according to observers.” This “reveals that the Brotherhood in Jordan is working to put pressure on the Jordanian leadership and try to tense the atmosphere in the street without dealing carefully with potentially explosive situations that may lead to Jordan sliding into chaos.” It is a dangerous situation “which ultimately serves the Iranian project.”
