Amman/Damascus: Jordan has agreed to spearhead a Saudi Arabia-led push to arm rebel groups through its borders into southern Syria, in a move that coincides with the transfer from Riyadh to Amman of more than $1 billion (Dh3.67 million).
The move marks a significant change to the posture adopted by Amman for the past two years, from one of trying to contain the spillover threat posed by the raging civil war across its border, to actively aiming to end it before it engulfs the kingdom.
Jordan’s role as a conduit for arms has emerged over the past two months as Saudi Arabia, some Gulf states, Britain and the US have sharply increased their backing of some rebel figures to try to stop the advances of Al Qaida-linked groups among them.
A push to defeat Al Qaida, rather than an outright bid to oust Syrian leader Bashar Al Assad, is the driving force behind Jordan’s stance, which officials in Amman concede heightens a risk that its increasingly cornered neighbour may look to retaliate against it.
Western and Arab diplomats say Jordan is treating Al Qaida’s rise in prominence as an increasing existential threat. Security figures in the kingdom also fear a boost to the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, long at odds with the monarchy and which boycotted this year’s parliamentary elections.
No direct stake
Until earlier this year, King Abdullah had been reluctant to take a direct stake in the Syrian crisis, opting to open the country’s borders to refugees and defectors, but not to allow them to be used for gun-running, or a concerted attempt to topple the four-decade Al Assad dynasty.
Jordanian, Syrian opposition and western sources say that Abdullah’s calculation is now that the sooner the Syrian crisis is over and the more able moderate elements are to defeat Al Assad, the better the chances of a moderate regime taking over in Damascus.
“It’s a race between them and the regular rebels to Damascus,” said one western official. “And it’s in no one’s interests if Al Qaida win.”
A recent flush of light and medium-sized weapons and funds into Syria have been transferred from the Jordanian border to rebel groups vetted by the CIA, which has run a training programme inside Jordan since early 2012. Some of the weapons have been sourced from Croatia over the past year by the Royal Jordanian Air Force.
While not explicitly conditional, the Saudi money is the first for Jordan in more than a year. Jordan has historically received backing from wealthy patrons in the Gulf as well as the US. The Jordanian industry minister, Hatem Al Halawani, said at a recent conference in Qatar established to support the Syrian opposition that the amount transferred from Riyadh totalled $1.25 billion.
