Jordan’s King Abdullah, a former special operations commander, took part in a military exercise with the Jordanian armed forces, as the country continues its fight against the Islamic State in both Syria and Iraq. Jordan is among the few Arab states that have taken part in the US-led air campaign against the extreme Muslim group in both Iraq and Syria. The kingdom, a major US ally, backs the moderate rebel groups aligned with the so-called ‘Southern Front’ supported by an Arab-Western coalition, who are trying to prevent opposition-held southern Syria from falling to Islamic State.
Jordan is concerned that Islamic State fighters would seek to descended southward to its borders at the end of a US-led campaign to recapture the extreme Muslim group’s de-facto capital of Raqqa, located in northern Syria. The danger of that happening has prompted Jordan to reinforce its border-region, with a clear warning by the commander of the Jordanian armed forces, that if the Islamic State would come close to its border region, the Hashemite Kingdom would invade its northern neighbor.