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Jordan, America's Best Arab Ally, Faces a Crumbling Region
(Wall Street Journal) Sohrab Ahmari - Jordanians watch the Mosul operation in neighboring Iraq with enthusiasm and unease. Information Minister Mohammad al-Momani said this week, "To us the Mosul operation is a cornerstone in the whole fight against terrorism." Mosul also raises discomfiting questions about what form jihadism will take after Islamic State is defeated, and how that might threaten Jordan, America's most reliable Arab ally. Alarms rang last week after the jihadist army overran half of Rutba, 70 miles from the Jordanian border in western Iraq. "These groups are rooted now in Syria and Iraq, and Jordan will be a target once the space in Syria and Iraq closes," says counterterror analyst Amer al-Sabaileh. Thanks in part to U.S. assistance, the Jordanian security apparatus is battle-ready for any territorial attempts. "We've been at war with Daesh [ISIS] in our northern and eastern borders for four years," says Momani. Moreover, Jordan has important defensive resources, chief among them the figure of King Abdullah II, who, as a direct descendant of the Prophet, possesses rare legitimacy in the Sunni world.