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Jordan Warns of Potential Chaos in Syria

On Tuesday, Jordan's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Major General Yousef Ahmed Al-Hunaiti, received the Director of Cooperation for the US Export Control and Border Security Program (Joint Chiefs of Staff website)
On Tuesday, Jordan's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Major General Yousef Ahmed Al-Hunaiti, received the Director of Cooperation for the US Export Control and Border Security Program (Joint Chiefs of Staff website)
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Jordan Warns of Potential Chaos in Syria

On Tuesday, Jordan's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Major General Yousef Ahmed Al-Hunaiti, received the Director of Cooperation for the US Export Control and Border Security Program (Joint Chiefs of Staff website)
On Tuesday, Jordan's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Major General Yousef Ahmed Al-Hunaiti, received the Director of Cooperation for the US Export Control and Border Security Program (Joint Chiefs of Staff website)

Jordanian security officials are worried about the return of chaos to Syria after the sudden departure of former President Bashar al-Assad to Moscow.
Security sources say instability could arise from a power struggle between factions, whose loyalties and weapons supplies remain unclear.
Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that recent events, including the movement of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Assad’s flight, are driven by regional and international forces.
The focus seems to be on “rehabilitating” Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, now revealed as Ahmad al-Sharaa.
However, the loyalty of his supporters, following his shift in rhetoric, remains uncertain and will need to be tested in the short and medium term.
Jordan is concerned about the situation in Syria due to the many actors involved and conflicting interests over the country’s future.
The risk of extremism and terrorism, fueled by hidden stockpiles of weapons, is a major worry for Syria and its neighbors. The situation is also complicated by internal agendas driven by revenge and retribution.
Jordan has expressed support for the “choices and will of the Syrian people.”
However, officials are concerned about the overconfidence in figures who were once part of al-Qaeda and ISIS before founding Jabhat al-Nusra, which later became Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, led by Abu Muhammed al-Jolani and backed by Türkiye.
Jordan is concerned about ISIS cells in the Syrian desert and the potential return of ISIS militias.
Security sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that they are closely monitoring armed groups in southern Syria.
Ongoing communication with Syrian tribes, the army, and moderate groups in areas like Daraa is key to strengthening a defensive line along the 370 km Jordan-Syria border.
On Monday, Jordan’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Maj. Gen. Yousef Ahmed Al-Hunaiti, met with US Central Command Commander Gen. Michael Kurilla.
They discussed strengthening regional and security cooperation, recent developments in the region, and areas of joint coordination to support the armed forces of both countries.
The US general’s visit is closely tied to the ongoing US presence in Syria and the joint Jordanian-American efforts to fight various militant groups that have attacked US bases and targeted Jordan’s security.
Reports indicate airstrikes on Monday night hit areas in the Syrian desert where ISIS is believed to be hiding. The Israeli strikes aimed to destroy Syrian military stockpiles and prevent them from reaching armed groups.
Jordanian security experts believe ISIS may be using the current lull to revive its operations, expanding alliances with militias ready to join the chaos in Syria and serve the interests of external powers seeking to exploit Syria’s resources.

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US Pulls Out of Two More Bases in Syria, Worrying Kurdish Forces

SDF forces in Syria. (AFP file)
SDF forces in Syria. (AFP file)
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US Pulls Out of Two More Bases in Syria, Worrying Kurdish Forces

SDF forces in Syria. (AFP file)
SDF forces in Syria. (AFP file)

US forces have pulled out of two more bases in northeastern Syria, visiting Reuters reporters found, accelerating a troop drawdown that the commander of US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces said was allowing a resurgence of ISIS.

Reuters reporters who visited the two bases in the past week found them mostly deserted, both guarded by small contingents of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - the Kurdish-led military group that Washington has backed in the fight against ISIS for a decade.

Cameras used on bases occupied by the US-led military coalition had been taken down, and razor wire on the outer perimeters had begun to sag.

A Kurdish politician who lives on one base said there were no longer US troops there. SDF guards at the second base said troops had left recently but declined to say when. The Pentagon declined to comment.

It is the first confirmation on the ground by reporters that the US has withdrawn from Al-Wazir and Tel Baydar bases in Hasaka province. It brings to at least four the number of bases in Syria US troops have left since President Donald Trump took office.

Trump’s administration said this month it will scale down its military presence in Syria to one base from eight in parts of northeastern Syria that the SDF controls. The New York Times reported in April that troops might be reduced from 2,000 to 500 in the drawdown.

The SDF did not respond to questions about the current number of troops and open US bases in northeastern Syria.

But SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, who spoke to Reuters at another US base, Al Shadadi, said the presence of a few hundred troops on one base would be "not enough" to contain the threat of ISIS.

"The threat of ISIS has significantly increased recently. But this is the US military’s plan. We’ve known about it for a long time ... and we’re working with them to make sure there are no gaps and we can maintain pressure on ISIS," he said.

Abdi spoke to Reuters on Friday, hours after Israel launched its air war on Iran. He declined to comment on how the new Israel-Iran war would affect Syria, saying simply that he hoped it would not spill over there and that he felt safe on a US base.

Hours after the interview, three Iranian-made missiles targeted the Al Shadadi base and were shot down by US defense systems, two SDF security sources said.

ISIS ACTIVE IN SYRIAN CITIES

ISIS ruled vast swathes of Iraq and Syria from 2014 to 2017 during Syria’s civil war, imposing a vision of religious rule under which it beheaded locals in city squares, sex-trafficked members of the Yazidi minority and executed foreign journalists and aid workers.

The group, from its strongholds in Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq, also launched deadly attacks in European and Middle Eastern countries.

A US-led military Coalition of more than 80 countries waged a yearslong campaign to defeat the group and end its territorial control, supporting Iraqi forces and the SDF.

But ISIS has been reinvigorated since the ouster of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in December at the hands of separate opposition factions.

Abdi said ISIS cells had become active in several Syrian cities, including Damascus, and that a group of foreign extremists who once battled the Syrian regime had joined its ranks. He did not elaborate.

He said ISIS had seized weapons and ammunition from Syrian regime depots in the chaos after Assad's fall.

Several Kurdish officials told Reuters that ISIS had already begun moving more openly around US bases which had recently been shuttered, including near the cities of Deir Ezzor and Raqqa, once strongholds for the extremist group.

In areas the SDF controls east of the Euphrates River, ISIS has waged a series of attacks and killed at least 10 SDF fighters and security forces, Abdi said. Attacks included a roadside bomb targeting a convoy of oil tankers on a road near the US base where he gave the interview.