How Jordanians are standing together to tackle extremism

The ISIL attack in Karak has drawn the country together, writes Taylor Luck

Jordanian security forces stand guard near the Crusader castle in Karak, a day after an attack by ISIL killed 10 people. AFP PHOTO / Khalil MAZRAAWI

When ISIL launched a series of attacks in southern Jordan last week that targeted police installations and Karak castle, one of the country’s most famous tourist attractions, it revealed that Jordan had a home-grown sleeper cell in its midst.

But the deadly clashes, which left 13 Jordanians and one Canadian dead, also revealed Jordan’s greatest weapon in the fight against ISIL: the Jordanian people.

It was a landlord’s concern about suspicious behaviour that tipped off the police who uncovered a terrorist safe house and weapons depot in the town of Qatraneh.

The police investigation forced ISIL militants’ hand, with operatives staging a desperate plan B attack, storming Karak castle and attacking police along the way.

After cataloguing the automatic weapons, homemade explosives and explosive belts, Jordan’s interior minister Salameh Hamad said Jordan believes the target was “not just Karak” but “all of Jordan”.

But civic acts in the line of national duty did not end there. After militants stormed the castle, gunning down its tourist policemen, Karak residents themselves took up arms. Civilians, some armed with as little as stones and others with licensed handguns traded fire with the militants while special operations forces got into position.

Even when security services charged the castle, everyday Jordanians ran alongside them, insisting on taking part in the “liberation” of the castle seized by the great Muslim general Salah Ad Din Al Ayyubi nearly 900 years ago.

As raids, and shoot-outs, continued in southern Jordan, citizens were once again on the front lines. In the town of Qarayfela, north of Karak, citizens engaged in a shoot-out alongside police against suspected ISIL militants holed up in a house. Residents even took to mosque loudspeakers to denounce the militants, declaring “this is not Islam … turn yourselves in”.

The sheer number and eagerness of civilians ready to put their lives on the line in defence of their homeland has even posed a challenge to the government. Officials warn that interference or large gatherings of concerned citizens set on taking on ISIL may hinder operations or result in large civilian casualties.

No matter the challenges they pose to the professionals, Jordan’s citizen-army has sent a message to the militants: Jordanians are not willing to give ISIL a single inch.

It may be counter-intuitive, as many of the attackers themselves may be Jordanian, born and raised in the very towns they are attacking.

Sure enough, there are as many as 3,000 Jordanians fighting alongside ISIL in Iraq and Syria. But the draw of a few individuals, a fraction of a percentile of 6.6 million Jordanians, to fight in neighbouring Syria should not be confused with the rejection of terror by an entire society.

Jordanian tribes again and again have disowned sons and daughters who have left for Syria under the cover of going to Umrah pilgrimage or studying in Turkey. Families of those involved in this week’s attacks have refused to receive their bodies, open mourning houses or bury them after their death.

Jordanians view the security services and the army as part of their family. Sure enough, in many towns and villages, every single household has a member in uniform. An attack on a policeman or soldier is seen an attack on the whole of Jordan.

All agree that ISIL made a mistake by targeting Karak – and its symbol of resistance, the crusader castle. In the town’s lore, it was the Muslim armies led by Salah Ad Din that expelled the invading crusader army. Songs are sung and poems are recited yearly about the brave Karak residents who rose up in defiance against the Ottomans in the early 20th century, and paid for it with their lives. Many residents gave their lives while fighting Israel in 1967.

Karak residents, and many Jordanians, see themselves as one of the last bastions of Arab nationalism. They have stood up to foreign invaders and occupiers before, and this week they proved they will do so again.

Jordanians have watched in horror the past two years as many great and historical Arab cities, towns and villages fell under ISIL’s banner and bloody rule one by one: Ramadi, Mosul, Raqqa. They were determined that Karak would not be added to the list.

It may be unrealistic to use Jordan as a model for confronting ISIL. Jordan, unlike Syria, Iraq or Libya, is without paralysing ethnic divisions, and has a unified standing army, police and intelligence services.

But on December 18, Jordanians made a statement for the history books. Not all will cower in fear before ISIL. Not in Jordan. Not today.

Taylor Luck is a political analyst and journalist in Amman