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On April 2, 2024, Abu Ali Al-Askari, a senior official in the Iraqi Iran-backed Hizbullah Brigades, announced that his organization was working to arm activists in Jordan, that is, to establish a militia to be subordinate to his organization and to Iran. Al-Askari said that his organization had prepared sufficient weapons and ammunition to arm 12,000 fighters of the new militia – the Islamic Resistance in Jordan – including light and medium weapons, anti-armor weapons, tactical missiles, and "tons of explosives."[1]
A day after this announcement, the Hizbullah-affiliated Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar devoted its front page to the mass demonstrations that are taking place in Jordan in support of Hamas in Gaza under the title "The Jordan Flood – A New Resistance Front." That day's issue of the paper also included two reports on the establishment of a front in Jordan for supporting the Palestinians. One, titled "The Jordan Flood Expands," focused on the pro-Hamas demonstrations and on the Jordanian regime's attempts to restrict them. The second, titled "The Iraqi Resistance Is Expanding Its Aid: The Jordanian Front Is Not Dead," dealt with resistance axis efforts to establish a militia loyal to it in Jordan. The resistance axis support for the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Jordan, as well as its efforts to establish a militia in the country, are both part of Iran's grand plan to actualize its vision of the Islamic Revolution.[2]
Front page of the April 3, 2024 issue of Al-Akhbar: "The Jordan Flood – A New Resistance Front"
Al-Akhbar: "The Iraqi Resistance Is Expanding Its Aid: The Jordanian Front Is Not Dead"
As noted, a day after Al-Askari's announcement, the Al-Akhbar daily wrote at length about it. Citing elements in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq – an umbrella organization of several Iran-backed Shi'ite militias established following October 7 that has carried out attacks on U.S. bases and Israeli targets – the daily stated that Al-Askari's announcement came as part of the "opening of a new front in order to help the Gaza Strip in the face of the Israeli aggression." The sources added: "The opening of a new channel of communication [between the Iraqi militias and] the Jordanian resistance, and the arming and training of some of its fighters, was done in several phases, but the interest in it began after the [launch of the] Al-Aqsa Flood campaign due to the need to open new fronts to help the resistance movement in Palestine against the Israeli occupation." Pointing at the coordination with the Palestinian factions, the sources said: "Throughout this period of the war on Gaza, the Iraqi resistance has been in contact with the Palestinian resistance in order to determine the main strategy for help and support, which could end up including also [providing] arms and other military needs, in addition to attacking Israeli facilities."
Hizbullah Brigades MP: The Jordanian Regime Serves Israel; The Jordanian Front Must Be Activated
Ali Fadhlallah, spokesman for the Huqouq Movement that is part of the Iraqi parliament and which "belongs to the Hizbullah Brigades" according to Al-Akhbar,[3] acknowledged that the Iran-backed militias in Iraq intend to establish a militia in Jordan, and that this militia is meant to help them operate against the U.S. as well. He told Al-Akhbar: "Jordan is very important to the resistance axis because of its geographic location... Unfortunately, because of the [Jordanian] regime, this location serves the oppressing entity [Israel] and there is no real support [by the regime] for the Palestinian resistance or even for the Gaza residents... The perception of the Hizbullah Brigades is based on activity to expand the resistance axis, so that it extends from Iraq through Jordan to Gaza."
Fadhlallah said that the intention is to arm Palestinians in Jordan: "The transfer of weapons to the Palestinian people is very important, so that they can fulfill their obligation on Jordanian soil. If this happens, it will certainly have a positive and supportive effect on the Palestinian factions. The main thing is to activate the dead front in Jordan so that it supports the factions in Palestine."
He went on to clarify: "The support for the Jordanian resistance is no substitute for military activity on the ground by the Hizbullah Brigades, which has been suspended since February. The ceasefire declared by the Brigades was out of respect for the negotiations process between the Iraqi government and the American side."[4] Hinting at the possibility that the Hizbullah Brigades could act against American interests in Jordan, he said: "Arming the Jordanian fighters bears several messages. Perhaps one of them is to the Iraqi government... stating that we are continuing to fight the [American] occupation until it leaves Iraq, and we have many tactics to expel it. If [activity within] Iraqi territory embarrasses the government, we will seek many alternatives to pressure the American side and the Zionist entity to stop the war in Gaza and to expel the occupation from the Middle East."[5]
Al-Akhbar report: "The Iraqi Resistance Is Expanding Its Aid: The Jordanian Front Is Not Dead"
Previous Threats To Jordan From The Militias
These Hizbullah Brigades officials' statements about their intention to arm operatives in Jordan and in fact establish a militia subordinate to them are another link in the chain of efforts by the Shi'ite militias loyal to Iran to damage Jordan's sovereignty and destabilize the kingdom. Iran and the militias loyal to it have exploited the civil war in Syria to establish a presence in southern Lebanon on the Jordanian border and, in recent years, have massively expanded the smuggling of drugs and weapons into Jordan.[6]
Since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, 2023, the Iraqi militias have been working to stir up the Jordanian arena. A short time after the war broke out, they called on the Iraqi people to come to the Iraq-Jordan border to "help the Palestinian people and the resistance."[7] Jordanian elements have reported recently that militia operatives attempted to infiltrate into Jordan under the cover of these demonstrations,[8] and also reported on militia efforts to enter Jordan by means of the Iraqi convoys of aid for the Palestinians.[9]
Additionally, elements in the militias threatened to strike U.S. bases in Jordan,[10] and have even acted on these threats; on January 28, 2024, three U.S. servicemembers were killed in a drone strike on the Tower 22 base in Jordan near the Syrian border.[11] Elements in the militias even warned Jordan not to allow attacks on the militias from its soil. For example, on February 2, 2024, Abu Alaa Al-Wala'i, secretary-general of the Sayyid Al-Shuhada Brigades, praised the peoples of Jordan and Kuwait and called on them to prevent their governments from using their territory for attacks on Iraq. He warned that they could respond to the sources of the fire.[12]
[1] See MEMRI JTTM report Iran-Backed Militias In Iraq And Lebanon: Killings Of Senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Officials In Damascus 'Won't Go Unpunished;' Iraqi Hizbullah Declares Intent To Arm Thousands Of Operatives In Jordan To Take Revenge On 'The Sons Of The Monkeys And The Pigs,' April 2, 2024.
[2] See MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis No. 1758, Iran's Grand Plan: Bring Down The Jordanian Regime, Attack Israel From The East, And Thwart The Western-Sunni Normalization Project – And This Could Begin This Friday, Iran's Qods Day, April 3, 2024.
[3] On this movement, see MEMRI JTTM report, "Ex-Hizbullah Brigades Senior Member Heads Party Competing In Upcoming Iraqi Elections," October 6, 2021.
[4] On January 30, 2024, the Hizbullah Brigades announced that it was suspending its attacks on U.S. forces, in response to threats by the U.S. to respond harshly to the killing of three service members in a drone strike on the Tower 22 base in Jordan near the Syrian border two days previously. See MEMRI JTTM report Iran-Backed Hizbullah Brigades In Iraq Announce Suspension Of All Operations Against U.S. Forces, Denies Iran's Involvement In Previous Attacks, Says Teheran Often Advised Against Escalation, January 30, 2024.
[5] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), April 3, 2024.
[6] See for example MEMRI JTTM report While Jordan Reports Significant Hike In Drug Smuggling Into The Country Involving Iran-Backed Organizations, Syrian Opposition Websites Report Hizbullah Is Ramping Up Drug Production In The South, May 24, 2022.
[7] Telegram, October 19, 2023.
[8] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), April 2, 2024.
[9] Independentarabia, April 2, 2024.
[10] See for example MEMRI JTTM report Lebanese Daily: Iran-Backed Militias In Iraq Plan To Target U.S. Forces In Neighboring Countries: Jordan, Saudi Arabia, And Kuwait, February 8, 2024.
[11] Centcom.mil, January 28, 2024. It should be noted that the Iraqi Shi'ite militias did not take responsibility for this attack. See MEMRI JTTM report Iran-Backed Islamic Resistance In Iraq Claims Drone Attacks On Israeli Base, U.S. Al-Tanf, Al-Rukban, Al-Shaddadi Bases In Syria, Coinciding With Attack Killing U.S. Soldiers On Jordan-Syria Border January 29, 2024.
[12] Twitter, February 2, 2024.
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