Black flag of jihad finds a new home in Jordan
Shia-Sunni conflict redrawing borders
MA’AN, JORDAN — The call to prayer rang out across the streets of Ma’an — its long, loud, lilting cry signalling the eve of the Muslim religious holiday of Ramadan.
Inside the white-marbled mosque the imam’s sermon was one of forgiveness. His words broadcast outside fell on the ears of young children as they handed out cakes to passersby in the sunshine.
It was a scene of tranquillity in this southern Jordanian city, a very normal Friday. That was until the worshippers began to leave the mosque.
At that point a crowd of men, some in military camouflage jackets, others bearded and wearing long black tunics, burst into defiant cries. Shouting “Allahu akbar” — God is great — they unfurled a large black flag bearing the symbol of the jihadist militia, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Strengthened by their victories in Syria and Iraq, where they have seized control of the north of the country, ISIL and its followers are now also gaining purchase in Jordan.
Foreign diplomats and the Jordanian government have this week expressed fears over the ability of the country, a crucial Middle East ally of the West, to remain stable, with extremist factions operating along two of its borders.
Jordanian troops rushed to the border with Iraq earlier this week, reinforcing their defences with convoys of tanks, troops and rocket launchers, as Sunni insurgents seized control of the official border post on the Iraqi side.
Jordan, whose General Intelligence Directorate works closely with the United States, has long been considered an essential “buffer” between the historically tumultuous Iraq and Syria and Israel. U.S. President Barack Obama has sought to ensure this status quo remains, providing a $5 billion counter-terrorism partnership fund for countries on the “front lines.”
However, rather than having to fight to keep extremists out of the country, the real threat to the Hashemite kingdom’s ruling monarchy is domestic.
The conflicts in Syria and Iraq and instability in Lebanon have reduced the relevance of national borders in the Middle East, with the map being increasingly redrawn to represent a supranational, sectarian struggle between Shia and Sunni sects.
In Jordan, the actions of ISIL in Iraq are inspiring radical factions of the country’s largely Sunni society, who sympathize with the group’s ambition to depose Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq’s prime minister, and the Shia-dominated government.
“ISIL is now being seen as a protector of Sunni identity,” said Hassan Abu Hanieh, an analyst of jihadist groups and childhood friend of the Salafist preacher Abu Qatada.
Before ISIL moved into Iraq, when it operated primarily in Syria, there was little support for the al-Qaida spinoff group in Jordan, he explained. Jordanians associated the group with the spate of bombings that rocked Amman in 2005, killing dozens.
However, as ISIL moved into Iraq and forged an allegiance with local Sunni tribes and Baathist remnants of the regime of Saddam Hussein, that perspective began to change.
“The number of Sunnis in Jordan who now subscribe to the extremist ideas of ISIL is increasing. They are drawn to the new-found power of ISIL. People revere them now,” Hanieh said.
He estimated that, despite the best efforts of the Jordanian government to mollify extremist sentiments, the number of citizens subscribing to fight with the al-Qaida minded groups has more than tripled since the 1980s.
“Approximately 300 Jordanians went to fight in Afghanistan, and then 400 in Iraq after the allied invasion. Today there are approximately 1,200 Jordanian jihadists fighting with either ISIL or al-Qaida’s Jabhat al-Nusra.”
Many of those Jordanian jihadists come from Ma’an, a poor, downtrodden city located in the southern desert.