The Giordani security services said Tuesday that they arrested 16 people who accused of planning threats to national security that involves weapons, explosives and plans to produce drones and form fighters, both nationally and abroad.
The declaration of the Department of General Intelligence of Jordan was a rare recognition of security threats in a country seen as one of the most stable in a region often haunted by war and turbulence. Jordan has long been a key partner for the western allies in the fight against Islamist militants and mediation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Arab Kingdom, with about half of its population made up of Palestinians, fought to maintain that stability in the midst of an discontent that subtracts in its population during the war in the Gaza strip and in more regional fights, in particular after Jordan has supported Israel in breaking down the missiles during an Iranian air attack last spring.
For years, the country has also been engaged in an extended battle to combat drug traffickers who try to move their goods through the country to rich customers in the Gulf region.
In his statement on Tuesday, Jordan’s intelligence service said he had been “closely monitored” the people he has held since 2021, which could have been a reference to an attempt to be coup of the palace that year. In April 2021, the king of Jordan, Abdullah II, accused his younger brother, Hamzah, of involvement in a conspiracy aimed at destabilizing national security with foreign support. Fourteen people were arrested in relation to the apparent plot.
Apart from the 2021 reference, there was no immediate indication from the declaration that the arrested this week had ties with that previous plot, which brought Prince Hamza who was placed under home arrest. The government later announced that the split between the prince and the King Abdullah II had been resolved through mediation.
The Jordan authorities said that the new plot included plans to produce missiles at the local level and bring them from abroad and to obtain explosives and weapons. The plot also included “the concealment of a missile ready for use, a project to produce drones and the recruitment and formation of individuals within the kingdom and their subsequent training abroad”, says the note.
A report from the Reuters news agency mentioned officials stating that the arrests on Tuesday were connected to the Palestinian militant group, Hamas. Since the war between Israel and Hamas began in Gaza, Jordan contrasted Iranian efforts to smuggle weapons through the country to the Palestinian militants through the border between regional and American officials, according to regional and US officials.