Jordan has moved “thousands” of troops to the Iraq border after a Jordanian pilot was burned alive, according to two Jordanian government officials who spoke with NBC News.
According to NBC, “the troops were sent to prevent the infiltration of ISIS fighters into Jordan and as a show of force.”
King Abdullah of Jordan promised to hit ISIS “hard in the very center of their strongholds” after the Jordanian pilot’s murder.
Nevertheless, according to Matthew Henman, an analyst at Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre in London, Jordan’s response is “an intensification of ongoing efforts to secure the border to stop movement of men and weapons,” not the beginning of an invasion.
Still, the possibility that the troops could be used offensively against ISIS has not been ruled out. The Iraqi army is preparing an offensive against ISIS, according to Sky News.
As Sky News reports:
John Allen, the US co-ordinator for the anti-IS coalition of Western and Arab countries, said on Sunday Iraqi troops would begin a major offensive ‘in the weeks ahead’.
‘When the Iraqi forces begin the ground campaign to take back Iraq, the coalition will provide major firepower associated with that,’ he told Jordan’s official Petra news agency.
Iraqi forces have already carried out operations near Baghdad and in Diyala and Salaheddin provinces north of the capital.
With the combination of the Iraqi army, the Jordanian army posted at the border, and the air coalition led by the US, has it finally come time for ISIS to face the music? Feel free to share your thoughts.
