The authorities in Jordan today arrested four citizens of Palestinian origin on suspicion of trying to smuggle weapons into the territories of Judea and Samaria, with the aim of delivering them to Hamas. The arrest of the four led to strained relations between the Jordanian authorities and Hamas, resulting in the severing of contact between the two sides.
A week ago, the Jordanian army announced in a statement after shooting down a drone that "this is the second aircraft in three days, and that it was used in an attempt to smuggle weapons from Syria to Jordan", according to their claim. Since the Israeli operation in 2021, called "Saif Al-Quds" by Hamas, The Jordanian authorities have tightened the control measures on the border with the West Bank, to prevent any attempts to infiltrate or smuggle weapons from Jordan into the occupied territories, after many similar cases.
Hamas & Iran are challenging Jordan’s security again…
— Mark (@HalawaMark) June 25, 2023
- 4 Palestinians were arrested in Jordan attempting to smuggle weapons to terror groups in Judea & Samaria (West Bank) https://t.co/tsw3nLPZLu
In the meantime, it was reported in the Arab media that the Jordanian member of parliament, Imad Al-Adwan, who was arrested two months ago by Israeli security forces on suspicion of smuggling quantities of weapons and gold to the West Bank, will be tried in his country and will receive an "appropriate punishment". Imad had sharp political positions against Israel. The Israeli authorities quickly released the Jordanian member of parliament and returned him to his country, after coordination with the Jordanian security services.
For many months, the Jordanians have been worried about the smuggling of ammunition and drugs, which are carried out in the framework of cooperation between pro-Iranian militias, local criminals, the Assad regime, and Hezbollah. Against the background of the sensitive situation on its northern border, Jordan gave the green light to the return of the Assad regime to the Arab League, in an attempt to obtain cooperation with him Against the smuggling. Indeed, it was recently reported that a drug dealer was killed in southern Syria, carried out by the Jordanian Air Force. Apparently thanks to intelligence from the Syrian side.
Unnamed private source claims #Jordan 'arrests 4 citizens of Palestinian origin on charges of smuggling weapons in West Bank,esp. to Hamas.'#Jordan is a state NOT a foothold & crossing point for terrorist militias that also work against Jordanian state, its security & stability https://t.co/MVPD6L7Qzr
— Razan Nweiran (@razbn17) June 24, 2023
In the past year, there have been calls in the Jordanian parliament to renew ties with Islamist elements such as Hamas and the Islamic movement in Israel, in order to hurt Israel. It was also reported that there were contacts between Amman and the terrorist organization Hamas on the subject. In the 1990s senior Hamas officials operated in Jordan and towards the beginning of the 2000s they left the country. Two years after a failed assassination attempt, the senior leader of the organization, Khaled Mashal, was expelled from the kingdom and settled in Syria. Now, it seems that despite the calls for the renewal of relations with Hamas, the royal house is not enthusiastic about that possibility.
