Three High-Rank Jordanian officials have visited Egypt to discuss security issues with Egyptian officials.
The Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, King Abdullah’s National Security adviser, and Jordan’s General intelligence director Gen. Faisal Al-Shobky met Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and the General Intelligence director Gen.Khaled Fawzy.
The meeting, which was hosted by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, was announced hours after the meeting ended.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry statement was precise and it stated that the meeting issued the continuous coordination between Egypt and Jordan over regional issues. The official statement didn’t announce any further details about the meeting.
However, the meeting is of a great importance as reported by al-Youm 7 newspaper (Egyptian newspaper).
An Egyptian diplomat has unveiled the details of the meeting that included the foreign ministers and the intelligence directors of both countries.
He said that the meeting focused on security issues as it negotiated the coordination between both countries on counter-terrorism and facing the terrorist organizations.
According to the source, the recent meeting is very important as it came after the two major terrorist attacks that hit Jordan in the last two weeks.
The last attack targeted a military site near the Jordanian-American base at al-Rukban in Jordan. The attack killed 4 soldiers on the borders and wounded 14 from the Jordanian military and security forces.
Amaq News Agency linked to the militant said that the Islamic State (ISIS) group claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing that killed the Jordanian soldiers on the Syrian border.
The Egyptian source said the meeting came based on a Jordanian request to coordinate as fast as possible with Egypt to share experience and information on terrorist militants.
Furthermore, he added that the meeting endorsed creating open security channels that ensure exchanging information on terrorist organizations and securing Jordan’s south borders with Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
The Jordanian delegation had visited Saudi Arabia before its visit to Cairo.
On the other hand, Jordan’s newspaper al-Ghad reported that a Jordanian source saying that the negotiations between the Jordanian and the Egyptian officials issued the security developments within countering terrorism strategy in Sinai, the north Jordanian borders with Syria and the northeast borders with Iraq.
The source added that the meeting was close to a coordination council between both countries that indicates the presence of an important development in the Jordanian-Egyptian cooperation in counter-terrorism to maintain the security in both countries.
The security expert, Sufian al-Sheikh said that both Egypt and Jordan are alerted and mobilized to face the terrorist organizations, especially after the latest development in Jordan.
Jordan has closed its borders with Iraq and Syria and it also announced them as a military closed area. No military forces in Syria are allowed to come a distance more than 7 km near the Jordanian borders and anyone who exceed this distance will be faced firmly, according to Sufian al-Sheikh.
He also noted that securing the Jordanian borders is occupying Jordan’s priority in its war against terrorism and ISIS (Daesh).
In this context, Washington Institute for Near East policy has published an article to David Schenker-the director of the Program on Arab Politics- who said that the latest terrorist attack is the biggest in Jordan for more than a decade. He added that ISIS in Syria represents a real threat as it seems it had built a new base in Jordan.
Moreover, Jordan will need to deal with the problem of “extremism” and Daesh inactive cells after the latest two terrorist attacks, according to Schenker.
He also noted that Jordan is one of Washington’s best allies and partners in the campaign against ISIS (Daesh). Accordingly, the U.S offers more than $1 billion a year to Jordan in the form of economic, military assistance as well as funding the refugees in Jordan. However, Schenker stated that money is not the only solution to resolve the terrorism problem. After 5 years of the Syrian war, still Obama administration is continuing in the state of denial and as long as the war continues in Syria; the expansion of extremist tide will increase in the Jordanian Kingdom.
