BICOM

According to the Jordanian army, Jordanian fighter jets yesterday destroyed a number of combat vehicles trying to cross into the kingdom from neighbouring Syria.

While the statement did not specify whether the vehicles were targeted on Syrian or Jordanian soil nor offer casualty figures, the bombing is significant in that it represents the first time Jordan has used fighter jets to deal with such infiltrations and underlines concern about incursions from areas controlled by Syrian rebels.

Jordan is struggling to cope with hosting more than 500,000 Syrian refugees uprooted by the conflict, in addition to Iraqi and Palestinian refugees who have entered the country in previous decades and its intelligence establishment has long expressed concerns about Syrian sleeping cells in the kingdom with orders to engage in acts of sabotage in reprisal for any perceived support for an Western led military operation against Syria launched from Jordanian territory.

In recent weeks Jordanian border guards have clashed with and arrested several people as they attempted to cross from Syria into the kingdom while controls along the 230 mile border with Syria have been tightened in order to try to prevent Jordanian Islamist militants – seen as a potential domestic security threat – from crossing back into Jordan.

Unlike Syria’s other main neighbours, Jordan, which hosts an US military force, including F-16 fighter jets and Patriot missile interceptors – has prevented any free flow of arms or fighters over its frontier.  It is thought that Amman has long been concerned that any overt support of the Syrian insurgency could trigger retribution against the kingdom by Assad’s powerful security forces.

While the Israeli government has sought to stay out of the fighting in Syria as much as possible, it does see the continued stability of the Kingdom of Jordan as a key component of Israel’s national security.