Jordan’s Salafists threaten Hezbollah

Mohamed Al-Daameh  Asharq Al-Awsat 
http://www.aawsat.net/2013/05/article55302083
 
Armed groups may be crossing the Jordanian–Syrian border to fight in civil 
war
 
Amman, Asharq Al-Awsat—Muhammad Al-Mawmani, the Jordanian minister of 
information and communications, said that the Jordanian Armed Forces and 
border security forces are fully prepared to defend the borders and 
safeguard the country’s security and stability.
 
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. 
 
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