Global SITREP C12-14: The Middle East's Expanding War - Next Stop Jordan

29 June 2014: The Islamist threat to the current government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan may actually not be where most media have set their eyes in recent days. Those reports have focused on a region of Jordan well to the east of Amman. At the farthest extent of the vast Al Mafraq Governorate, Jordan's vast eastern arm, lies a desert region which is actually the southernmost portion of the Syrian desert. This desolate region is known in Jordan as Ar-Ruwayshid and it terminates at the Iraqi-Jordanian border crossing of Tarbil. There are virtually no cities of any significant population to speak of out here; it is basically just a transport corridor between Baghdad and Amman. 

The threat area, highlighted on the map above, is the city of Ma'an, officially the second poorest city in Jordan. This city of 200,000 is populated by many educated but out-of-work youth who are drawn to the perceived promises of ISIS and potential opportunity they see in the creation of a truly Salafist Islamic state without borders. An Islamic Caliphate in other words. The reason they see opportunity and are given inspiration by ISIS is due to the military successes they have achieved in neighboring Iraq. For these youth the morning begins with a visit to the Al-Furqan website used by ISIS to make their daily Salafist indoctrination and propaganda announcements which inspire these Arab youth to riot in the city. The youth are immediately beset upon with extreme prejudice and often deadly violence by the local law enforcement which is loyal to the Hashemite throne.  

This is a vicious cycle which, if we put our memory recall caps on, will remind us that this is exactly they type of cyclical violence that started the Syrian civil war which gave rise to Al Qaeda's Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS in Syria to begin with. The difference in Jordan is that both the regime and the youth are Sunni muslims, with the regime being Bedouins and the youth Arab tribesmen with strong family or clan links to Iraq. The obvious problem is that the Jordanian government has done nothing to counter the jihadist indoctrination these Jordanian youth are receiving. Now what is coming out of Ma'an are insurrectionists threats against King Abdullah II, who they refer to as a tyrant (Arabic: taghout), and calls for the destruction of Jordan's constitutional monarchy.

The Middle East's rapidly expanding war is not being put out by the powers that have the resources to do so. Mobilizing battalions and armored brigades and rushing them across desert expanses to border outposts is not how this type of war should be fought. The enemy is already inside the citadel in the heart of the country. The fairly predictable result will be one where Israel will be left alone to defend itself against the islamist assault, and I think we're all pretty much up to speed on how that will turn out according to Bible prophecy.

In the image above is a Chechen field commander of ISIS known as Muhajireen Kavkaz wa Sham. This is not a new photograph, it dates to almost a year ago. Pay particular attention to the logo and identification markings on the tent walls, and then come to understand where it is that President Obama wants to send an additional half billion of your taxpayer dollars to help with the jihad. Just look at what the last whopping batch of President Obama's funding dollars did for these "moderates" of the "religion of peace" of Al Qaeda and what they accomplished in Iraq over the past year - they built an army and have nearly over run all of Iraq after taking all of northern Syria. Then remind yourself that there's another important American election coming up in November. If you're not part of the solution in America, then you have to be part of the problem in America.

Updates 30 June 2014: With the Caliphate having been officially declared on soil occupied in Syria and Iraq by ISIS and their islamist allies, the city of Ma'an has followed this lead in open revolt against the Hashemite Throne in Amman. There are three military forces at present which can thwart the fall of the Jordanian monarchy: The Royal Jordanian Armed Forces, the forward deployed forces in the kingdom from the United States, and the IDF. Of these only the Jordanian Armed Forces under the direct command of King Abdullah II can act against an Islamist insurgency at this point in time; foreign intervention is clearly out of the question. 

With the cold-blooded murders of Israeli teens Eyal Yifrach, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and American teen Naftali Frenkel, also 16, now confirmed as occurring at the hands of HAMAS terrorists, and who have been publicly identified as Marwan Qwasmeh and Amar Abu Aisha, what the IDF will be ordered to do with respect to HAMAS in the next few hours is not hard to imagine. What Mahmoud Abbas does and says next, and well as US President Barack Obama does and says next, may will determine the severity of punishment that is executed by the IDF. This might well signal the end of HAMAS as we have known it. And that would be a very good thing.

1 July 2014: Well that didn't take long to materialize. The IDF went into action against HAMAS targets in Gaza and Judea virtually concurrent with my typing the paragraph above. Nearly three dozen high value targets were struck by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) in Gaza, and IDF troops set upon the homes of the murderous HAMAS kidnappers in Hebron and completely demolished them. It is my understanding that this military action against HAMAS may not yet be completed as previous actions of this time have not caused HAMAS to realize the gravity of their situation; that if Israel were to choose to do so HAMAS would be rendered extinct. The Israeli government remains hopeful that HAMAS will come to this realization. Those of us who understand Bible prophecy are already aware that such is not the case. So, we'll see what the new day brings and whether or not the "stop the rocket fire, or else" warning that Israel issued to HAMAS in Gaza means anything this time around. 

In Jordan the situation appears to be resting on what course of action the spiritual leader of Jordan's Salafists will soon announce publicly. Sheikh Isam al-Barqawi, also known to his followers as Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, is expected to announce his position regarding ISIS and the potential for jihadist insurrection in Jordan. Al-Maqdisi was very recently released from Jordan's Armimin prison where he had fully served his four-year long sentence for terrorist activities. One of the leading salafist imams in the world, and who is aptly called a "mujahed imam," al-Maqdisi holds tremendous influence over Jordanian Sunnis, particularly in the salafist strongholds found in the cities of Ma'an, Zarqa, Amman, Salt, Irbid and the "Palestinian" refugee camps. The locales have been the source of hundreds of Jordanian jihadist fighters who joined the ranks of the various Al Qaeda groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS. Accordingly, it's not hard to imagine what position a mujahed imam like al-Maqdisi will announce.

 And last but not least... the image above proves that ISIS has captured at least one Scud missile from the arsenal of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. This display occurred in Raqqa, Syria, the claimed capital city of ISIS' recently declared "Islamic Caliphate." Among other captured Iraqi Army equipment shown off in the ISIS parade were several American-made M198 howitzers and other heavy combat vehicles. The Scud clearly proves that ISIS did in fact capture the Syrian missile base known as al-Taana 606 located near Aleppo, Syria as claimed back in October 2013. This photo is proof that ISIS did not destroy all of the Scud missiles as they had claimed at the time. What is unknown is if ISIS possesses the technical knowledge to make this warbird fly with its warhead, and precisely what type of warhead it may have.

Update 2 July 2014:  Jerusalem's Arab suburbs are the scene of increasingly violent riots today after the body of an Arab boy was found in Jerusalem forest who had also been brutally murdered. The Muslims immediately blamed all Israel for the murder of that boy without any proof of culpability. This new murder could easily have also been Muslim-on-Muslim violence as is occurring with great zeal throughout the Middle East for many months now. Clashes between Jews and Muslims erupted near simultaneously after the ambulances carrying the bodies of the murdered Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frenkel were stoned as the passed by Muslims. Those clashes have continued but are now concentrated around certain East Jerusalem suburbs. Indeed, the abject hatred being put on display once again is an ancient hatred that is the subject of several Bible prophecies in the process of fulfillment.