Jordanian Salafi jihadi leader Abu Sayyaf speaks to his supporters and the media during a demonstration against prolonged detention of the group’s leaders near the prime minister’s office in Amman. (REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed)
Mawmani’s statements came as a response to an inquiry regarding the arrival of Hezbollah members on the Jordanian–Syrian border, and claims that they are playing a leading role in battles in the border city of Dara’a, although the minister said he possessed no new information on the situation inside Syria.
In a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat, Mawmani said that the Jordanian military possessed the readiness and professionalism to deal with any emergency and prevent any party from violating the borders or disrupting security. He added that Jordan is eager to maintain its security, and the Armed Forces are carrying out their duty to prevent any infiltration from or into Jordanian territory.
However, some Jordanian Salafists warned Hezbollah fighters not to approach the Jordanian borders.
In a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat, Muhammad Al-Shalabi, a senior member of the Salafist movement in Jordan, said: “If the malicious [Hezbollah Secretary General] Hassan Nasrallah thinks the Sunni people will remain passive about the murderous crimes committed against our brothers in Syria, then he is deluded. His deceits have been exposed to everyone.”
Shalabi added that “Nasrallah has deceived the Sunnis in Lebanon, Syria, and other Arab and Islamic states by convincing them he deserved their support for Hezbollah’s struggle against Israel. However, the murders his party’s forces are carrying out against the Sunnis in Syria indirectly serve Israel, and he and the Syrian regime represent a burden on Muslims.”
He also said: “If Nasrallah and the rawafid [a derogatory term referring to Shi’ites] that follow him think that the land of Jordan is the same as Syria and Lebanon, they will be met by a blazing fire for the wretched.”
Approximately 500 followers of the Jordanian Salafist movement are fighting in Syria against the regime’s army, according to recent figures released by the Salafists.
A source close to Hezbollah mentioned in a statement that the party’s military units, which are fighting in Syria alongside the regime, have played a prominent, if not decisive, role in the Syrian army’s recapture of the town of Kherbet Ghazala, which occupies a strategic position on the road between Damascus and Dara’a. The source also said that the party’s fighters are proceeding quickly to the south and that they have reached Dara’a, meaning they are close to the international border with Jordan.