Israeli intel fears Islamists may topple Jordan’s King Abdullah

Jordan-based terror groups have used the long land border between the two countries to infiltrate Israel and carry out attacks.

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli intelligence agencies are concerned that Islamist rebels in Jordan could overthrow the Hashemite Kingdom’s monarch, King Abdullah II, following the recenter ouster of longtime Syrian dictator Basher al-Assad.

Top intelligence officials, including Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Chief Ronen Bar and the head of the Israeli army’s Intelligence Directorate, Maj.-Gen. Shlomi Binder, secretly visited Jordan on Friday to discuss the developments in the region, according to Hebrew-language media reports.

Bar and Binder were met with the director of Jordan’s national intelligence agency, Ahmed Husni, along with other senior officials.

Jordan-based terror groups have used the long land border between the two countries to infiltrate Israel and carry out attacks.

Axios reported that the meetings were focused on security issues related to the Islamist groups now tasked with forming a transitional government in Syria, with Jordan serving as a mediator between the militas and Israeli government.

While many Jordanian politicians are outwardly hostile to Israel, the country has maintained a cold peace with Jerusalem since 1994, and the two countries frequently collaborate on security issues.

Jordan’s cooperation with Israel, including allowing its airspace to be used to shoot down incoming Iranian missiles and rockets, has sparked backlash in the kingdom.

Some 70 percent of Jordan’s population are of Jordanian descent, while the king is a member of the Hashemite minority. Iran and Sunni extremists have long worked to stoke tribal tensions between the groups, with the goal of toppling the royal dynasty that has ruled Jordan for more than a century.

Iran has recently ramped up its efforts to smuggle weapons to Palestinian terror groups in Judea and Samaria via Jordan, as well as exacerbating anti-monarchy sentiment in the country.

Israel-Jordan relationsJordanian borderJordanian militaryKing Abdullah