Alleged plot to destabilize Jordan raises alarm in Amman

Jordan has arrested 16 members of the Muslim Brotherhood who were trained and financed in Lebanon and had plotted attacks on targets inside the kingdom involving rockets and drones, authorities said on Tuesday.

Jordanian authorities said at least one rocket was ready to be launched as part of an operation that had been under surveillance by security forces since 2021.

The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world's oldest and most influential Islamist movements, in a statement sent to Reuters denied any links to the alleged plot, said the group had always pursued a peaceful political course and that Jordan's branch of the Brotherhood had operated legally for decades.

The movement's political arm in Jordan the Islamic Action Front became the largest political grouping in the parliament after last September's parliamentary elections, although most seats are still held by government supporters.

Security forces found a rocket manufacturing facility alongside a drone factory, according to a statement by the General Intelligence Department released on state media.

"The plot aimed at harming national security, sowing chaos and causing material destruction inside the kingdom," the statement said.

The suspects were referred to the state security court for trial.

"We are talking about new tactics, rockets and drones. This means a complete change in the way the Muslim Brotherhood are dealing with Jordan and targeting its security," Amer Al Sabaileh, a prominent security analyst, told Reuters.

Government spokesperson Mohammad al Momani told a news briefing the government would be airing full confessions from the suspects, some of whom had been trained in Lebanon.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told his Jordanian counterpart in a phone call his country was ready to cooperate with Jordanian authorities, shortly after suspects shown in a video aired by Amman said they had been trained in Lebanon.

SECRET HIDEOUT

The rockets found in a secret hideout on the outskirts of the capital were being manufactured with a three to five kilometre range for use against targets inside the kingdom, Momani added.

A security source said dozens of rockets were found.

Over the last year, Jordan has said it has foiled attempts to smuggle weapons by infiltrators linked to pro-Iranian militias in Syria and Lebanon-based radical Palestinian groups.

It said some of the arms were bound for the neighbouring Israeli-occupied West Bank, adding that they have arrested several Jordanians linked to Palestinian militants.

Security officials said the incidents were terrorism-related based on the quantities of explosives found.

They said the plot was linked to Iran and its allies' clandestine efforts to recruit agents to carry out acts of sabotage within the kingdom to destabilize one of Washington's allies in the region.

Jordan has over 3,500 American troops stationed in several bases and, since the war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza erupted in October 2023, it has been increasingly targeted by Iranian-backed groups operating in neighbouring Syria and Iraq.