Israel, Jordan Hold Secret Meetings to Preempt Syrian Rebels’ Expansion

Photo Credit: Michael Giladi/Flash90

The border between Israel and Jordan near Hamat Gader, southern Golan Heights, November 28, 2024.

In a rare high-level meeting, the head of Israel’s Shin Bet Ronen Bar, head of IDF military intelligence Shlomi Binder, and senior IDF officers met last Friday with Ahmad Husni, director of Jordan’s General Intelligence Directorate, along with top Jordanian military commanders, Axios reported citing Israeli officials.

According to the Axios report, discussions centered on the evolving situation in Syria and both nations’ interactions with rebel factions establishing a transitional government. They also addressed mounting concerns over Iranian arms smuggling through Jordan to militant groups in Judea and Samaria, a development that could significantly inflame violence in the PA as well as among the “Palestinian” majority in Jordan.

The impact of the uprising in Syria, which last week overthrew the regime of President Bashar Assad, is threatening to reach Jordan and Judea and Samaria. Against this backdrop, Israel is tightening security coordination with the Hashemite Kingdom and the PA, preparing for this possibility.

Israel and Jordan, which both share a border with Syria, have expressed their interest in collaborating on mutual security concerns stemming from the conflict in war-torn Syria.

In a meeting with White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the IDF would “temporarily” maintain control of the border area in Syria. Netanyahu emphasized that this would continue “until there is an effective force” in place to enforce the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement, which established a demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria following the Yom Kippur War.

It is to be expected that a similar deal has been struck to preserve Jordan’s place in the Western alliance in the Middle East.

King Abdullah II of Jordan with a friend, April 5, 2017. / Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead

Israel and Jordan share a 309 km long land border marked by three key crossings: the Yitzhak Rabin/Wadi Araba Crossing, the Jordan River Crossing, and the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge Crossing, which serves as a vital link between the PA and Jordan. The relationship between Israel and Jordan is governed by the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty, which formally ended decades of hostilities dating back to Israel’s founding in 1948. The accord established diplomatic ties and set the framework for cooperation on security, trade, and water-sharing initiatives.

Despite facing international criticism for its strikes in Syria, Israel has benefited from two key factors in the past two weeks. The new regime in Syria, a radical Islamic organization attempting to cultivate a more moderate image, continues to generate deep mistrust. At the same time, Syria’s status as a fractured and war-ravaged failed state has turned it into a geopolitical gray zone exploited by various powers.

A similar scenario in Egypt or Jordan seems less likely, given that neither has experienced a prolonged and catastrophic civil war. However, Jordan remains a fragile state, which is 80% majority “Palestinian” and only 20% (if that) Bedouin tribes who are loyal to the Palace. In the event of a major crisis, Jordan risks collapse and fragmentation, potentially descending into the kind of contested and lawless territory that Syria has become.

In the Hashemite Kingdom, there is strong activity by the Muslim Brotherhood movement, which has been trying for several months, in collaboration with Iran and Hamas, to destabilize the rule of King Abdullah.

i24NEWS in the early fall cited a senior official in southern Syria who said that “in recent days, Houthi operatives have arrived from Iraq to southern Syria to open a new front of unmanned aerial vehicle fire against Israel.”

The phenomenon of arms smuggling from Syria to Jordan, and from Jordan to Israel, has been a clear Iranian mission that the IDF is well aware of. According to the Syrian source, this is done just like in the Gaza Strip: under the Jordanian border, there are tunnels that the Iranians use to smuggle weapons to the terrorists in Judea and Samaria and to elements in Jordan who undermine the rule of the Jordanian royal family.

The possibility of all these radical and criminal forces converging on Jordan immediately after the removal of the Assad regime is the reason for tightening security relations between Israeli and Jordanian security officials.