Alarms bells ringing for Israel and the U.S. in Jordan

TEHRAN, Oct. 21(MNA) -- The U.S. military has secretly sent a task force of more than 150 planners and other specialists to Jordan, ostensibly to prepare for any contingency in neighboring Syria. However, the dispatch of the troops is clearly in line with the United States’ general policy of maintaining the security of Jordan and protecting it from the waves of the Islamic Awakening, which, sooner or later, are expected to reach the country. Jordan is one of the closest allies of Washington in the Middle East, and over the past two years, the U.S. government has made every effort to protect it from the sweeping effects of the popular revolts in the region. The intensification of demonstrations in Jordan over the past few months has worried U.S. officials, and they have begun to provide concrete support to the Jordanian government. In fact, the task force deployed on the outskirts of Amman is actually planning to reorganize the Jordanian military and purge any potential anti-regime elements. Jordan is a red line for the United States and its regional proxy Israel. Over the years, Jordan has acted as a buffer state for the Zionist regime and any political change in the country could ruin the U.S. efforts to guarantee the security of Israel. U.S. troops are also there to help the Jordanian armed forces handle the recent flood of Syrian refugees. Jordan is home to many Palestinian refugees, who constitute nearly half of its population. The new influx of refugees from Syria is bound to create more security problems, as they may stir up unrest among the Palestinians, who are extremely dissatisfied with the way the government is treating them. Some political analysts say that that the U.S. soldiers are training Jordanian troops for an attack on Syria. However, the weakness of the Jordanian army and the strong response Syria would likely to deliver to such an attack would almost certainly lead to the collapse of the Jordanian regime. U.S. and Israeli officials are very concerned about such an outcome, and thus it seems they are trying to avoid any scenario that would bring Jordan into a military conflict with Syria. Moreover, Turkey would be a better proxy than Jordan for implementing such a scenario. However, the U.S. and its allies seem to have become disappointed with the Syrian opposition, since the various groups have been unable to reach a consensus, and there is a threat that the rise of a divided opposition in Syria would create more problems for the United States in the future, as has been the case in Libya. Mohammad Jamshidi is the director of the foreign policy department of the research center of the Iranian parliament. (By Mohammad Jamshidi)