Jordan boosts border forces in face of Daesh threat

THNEIBEH, Northern Border — Jordan is deploying more forces to face a growing threat to its borders, as Daesh extremists in neighbouring Iraq and Syria are being dislodged from some strongholds, the commander of the Border Guards said Thursday.

Daesh, which seized large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014, is under intense military pressure in both countries and has lost significant territory in recent months. 

US-backed Iraqi forces recently announced the recapture of the eastern side of Mosul, the northern city where they have been waging a three-month-old offensive.

Brig. Gen. Sami Kafawin, the commander of the Border Guards, said he expects some of the retreating Daesh militants to make their way into southern Syria, close to the Kingdom.

Daesh-affiliated groups already hold positions in southern Syria, a few hundred metres from the border, the commander said, ahead of a tour of military positions along the westernmost stretch of the border with Syria.

One such position, Thneibeh, faces the small Syrian village of Qusair, across the Yarmouk River.

Qusair is controlled by a Daesh-affiliated group, said Col. Rami Sondos, a border official. Another Syrian village, separated from Qusair by a deep ravine, is run by Syrian rebels.

The Syrian groups mostly fight each other, trading fire between the two villages, as the Jordanian troops observe.

During Thursday’s visit, a soldier perched on a lookout in a watchtower monitored the villages through large, mounted binoculars. 

A camera used at night can detect movement 8km into Syria, while cameras mounted at other border posts have a reach of 20km, Sondos said.

Infiltration attempts from Syria, including by drug smugglers suspected of ties to the militants, have so far been one of the biggest threats, border officials said.

Kafawin said that if more Daesh militants reach southern or eastern Syria, “we expect everything to be armed, to be dangerous [and] to become a real threat” to Jordan’s borders, including possible car bombs and suicide attacks.

Jordan, which is part of a US-led anti-Daesh military coalition, has been “deploying more and more forces to the borders”, the commander said.