Three Members of Terror Cell Killed in Jordan After Escape of Two

Members of the Jordanian security authorities in Amman (File Photo - Reuters)
Members of the Jordanian security authorities in Amman (File Photo - Reuters)
TT

Three Members of Terror Cell Killed in Jordan After Escape of Two

Members of the Jordanian security authorities in Amman (File Photo - Reuters)
Members of the Jordanian security authorities in Amman (File Photo - Reuters)

A statement released by the Jordanian Public Security Department, or PSD, following the killing of three wanted individuals, raised a plethora of questions regarding the existence of facilitations received by the inmates from inside the heavily fortified Muwaqqar Prison, located 45 kilometers east of Amman.

The statement indicated that the security forces identified the fugitives’ whereabouts, located hundreds of meters from the southeastern border strip of the kingdom in a highly rugged area.

Consequently, a specialized security unit was prepared and initiated a thorough search for them after they abandoned their escape vehicle and disappeared into the desert.

Once again, the case of “Al-Husseiniya terrorist cell” which was uncovered in December of 2022, takes the spotlight.

This comes after the killing of three wanted individuals, two of whom recently fled from prison under mysterious circumstances in an unprecedented escape operation.

They managed to flee from within one of the rehabilitation centers just days ago.

PSD said on Sunday that three men wanted on terrorism charges were killed in an exchange of fire with police on the kingdom’s southeastern borders.

PSD confirmed that two of the three men killed in a police shootout on Saturday were inmates who had recently escaped from a rehabilitation center.

All three are members of the “Al-Husseiniya cell,” which was involved in the killing of Col. Abdul Razzaq Al-Dalabeeh on Dec. 16 last year in the southern city of Maan, which was rocked by demonstrations against increasing fuel prices.

Exposing a terrorist cell with extremist ideology in Al-Husseiniya region of Maan Governorate, southern Jordan, in the final month of last year, raised concerns about the resurgence of this ideological movement and its dormant cells within the country.

These concerns were further heightened by the nature and details of the operation that was announced at the time, involving the killing of three members of the General Security Directorate at various ranks during a security raid targeting the “terrorist cell.”

The operation was carried out to apprehend the suspects involved in the killing of Al-Dalabeeh.



Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Meets HTS Leader in Damascus

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Ministry headquarters in the Turkish capital Ankara Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Ministry headquarters in the Turkish capital Ankara Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP)
TT

Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Meets HTS Leader in Damascus

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Ministry headquarters in the Turkish capital Ankara Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Ministry headquarters in the Turkish capital Ankara Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP)

Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on Sunday, Türkiye’s foreign ministry said, without providing further details.

Photographs and footage shared by the ministry showed Fidan and Sharaa, leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, which led the operation to topple Bashar al-Assad two weeks ago, walking ahead of a crowded delegation before posing for photographs.

The two are also seen shaking hands, hugging, and smiling.

On Friday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Türkiye would help Syria's new administration form a state structure and draft a new constitution, adding Fidan would head to Damascus to discuss this new structure, without providing a date.

Ibrahim Kalin, the head of Türkiye’s MIT intelligence agency, also visited Damascus on Dec. 12, four days after Assad's fall.

Ankara had for years backed opposition fighters looking to oust Assad and welcomed the end of his family's brutal five-decade rule after a 13-year civil war. Türkiye also hosts millions of Syrian migrants it hopes will start returning home after Assad's fall, and has vowed to help rebuild Syria.

Fidan's visit comes amid fighting in northeast Syria between Türkiye-backed Syrian fighters and the Kurdish YPG militia, which spearheads the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northeast and Ankara regards as a terrorist organization.

Earlier, Türkiye’s defense minister said Ankara believed that Syria's new leadership, including the Syrian National Army (SNA) armed group which Ankara backs, will drive YPG fighters from all territory they occupy in the northeast.

Ankara, alongside Syrian allies, has mounted several cross-border offensives against the Kurdish faction in northern Syria and controls swathes of Syrian territory along the border, while repeatedly demanding that its NATO ally Washington halts support for the Kurdish fighters.

The SDF has been on the back foot since Assad's fall, with the threat of advances from Ankara and Türkiye-backed groups as it looks to preserve political gains made in the last 13 years, and with Syria's new rulers being friendly to Ankara.