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Iran, Proxies ‘Trying to Boost Influence in Jordan’
JNS.org – The Iranian-led Shi’ite axis has been seeking to flood Judea and Samaria with weapons via neighboring Jordan, but the question of whether the Iranian axis could also try to insert its own terror squads into the area from the east has also recently made headlines in Israel.
On March 6, Ynet reported that one of the scenarios the defense establishment is preparing for is the infiltration of Iran-backed Shi’ite militia terror cells from Jordan.
Defense sources have recently confirmed to JNS that they have been dealing with a surge of weapons flooding Judea and Samaria, most of them smuggled from the Jordanian border.
Iran is investing money to get weapons into the hands of terrorists and tries to help direct and carry out attacks, according to one source.
Meanwhile, the Jordan Valley Regional Council announced on Saturday that, following the discovery of a breach in the border fence, subsequent scans by the Israel Defense Forces found six people who had crossed from Jordan overnight between Friday and Saturday.
Jonathan Spyer, director of research at the Middle East Forum, who has reported extensively in Syria and Iraq and embedded with Iraqi Shi’ite militias during the war against Islamic State, told JNS that from the point of view of physical ability, the scenario of Shi’ite militia infiltration from the east is realistic, but that the scope of such an infiltration would likely be limited.
“I have seen clear proof from Syrian sources that Iran is able to smuggle drugs and weaponry over the border from Syria into Jordan, and then further along—drugs to the Gulf, weapons to the West Bank,” he stated.
“This does not translate though into the movement of large numbers of fighters. But in terms of moving small numbers of people, the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] could do it if it wanted to,” he said. The question, he said, is what Iran’s motivation would be for doing so. “What would Iraqi or Syrian fighters bring to the West Bank that Palestinians can’t provide?” he said. “So I think these routes are more likely to be used for smuggling specific weapons types unavailable in the West Bank, such as explosively-formed penetrators, and perhaps specifically-skilled personnel, rather than the movement of large numbers of fighters, which at present probably would not be possible.”
The Iraqi Kata’ib Hezbollah and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba organizations are “the best militias the Iranians have other than Lebanese Hezbollah and the Houthis,” said Spyer.
“Militias recruited by the IRGC from among Syrians exist, but as of now their skills and prowess appear to be very limited by comparison, and they have hardly been used against Israel or against U.S. targets so far,” he said. “It is the Lebanese of course and the Iraqis who are more advanced. The Syrians aren’t there yet, and neither are the Afghans and Pakistanis. The latter are used as cannon fodder in Syria,” he said.
Furthermore, he said, it is not in Jordan’s interest to allow the movement of large numbers of fighters across its territory.
However, he noted, “When it comes to sealing the border against smuggling and infiltration, the indications are that it is failing significantly in this task.”
Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, former head of the Research and Assessment Division of Israeli Military Intelligence and a senior research fellow at Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, agrees that Jordan is not likely to allow these militias into its territory.
“I’m not sure how realistic this scenario is now because the Jordanians are prepared, are taking it into consideration, and will want to prevent it,” he said.
But that the idea “could cross the minds of the Iranians and their proxies” is certainly realistic, he added.
The Iranian axis is “trying constantly to boost influence in Jordan. We had attempted terror attacks and weapons moving from Jordan to the territories. They [the Iranians] know the smuggling routes,” he added.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has repeatedly and openly spoken of Tehran’s intentions to boost terrorism in Judea and Samaria.
In June 2023, during a meeting in Tehran with Ziyad al-Nakhalah, Secretary-General of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Khamenei stated, “The growing power of the resistance groups in the West Bank is the key that can bring the Zionist enemy to its knees, and it is crucial that we continue along this path.”
Kuperwasser noted that Shi’ite militias supported by Iran are already involved in the current war, as they have been firing unmanned aerial vehicles at strategic locations in Israel from Syria and Iraq on a regular basis.
A new attack route from Jordan “is an operational idea that they are trying to promote, and those responsible [in Israel] must be prepared for this scenario as well,” he added.
The post Iran, Proxies ‘Trying to Boost Influence in Jordan’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
The post Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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