Report: ISIL Planning Raid on Jordan
Fouad al-Suwaidi, a retired Lebanese military officer, warned against the ISIL imminent military attack on Jordan.
“If we come to realize that no country in the Middle East, specially the weak ones, is immune to ISIL’s threats, Jordan will likely to be new target of ISIL this time,” the Beirut-based Arabic-language El-Nahsra news website quoted al-Suwaidi as saying on Tuesday.
Al-Suwaidi enumerated many reasons that would encourage the ISIL to attack Jordan.
He pointed to the large population of the Salafis in Jordan, and said the Arab country has a great potential for ISIL supporters.
Al-Suwaidi reiterated that the economic crisis, high unemployment rate and large gap between the poor and the rich make Jordan an ideal target for ISIL.
He, moreover, said intelligence sources have revealed that ISIL Leader Abu Bakr al-Baqdadi has ordered his forces to prepare for attacking Jordan.
Most of ISIL’s recruits come from Jordan because of the country’s large Salafi population.
The apprehension over 600 extremist Salafis by Jordan and trial of over 150 of them shows the extent of ISIL’s influence in Jordan.
In May, Jordan’s King Abdullah II changed his security aides, including Interior Minister Hussein al-Majali, police chief Tawfik al-Tawabia and head of the gendarmerie Ahmed al-Swelmin over the rising activities of the ISIL terrorist organization in the Arab country’s Maan province.
The changes in Jordan’s top security posts came following rising unrests in Maan province and the seizure of a vehicle belonging to the Arab country’s intelligence ministry by the militants.
