Jordan pauses

Jordan pauses   http://us7.campaign-archive2.com/?u=2820afb1fbae0c99e88fb6f52&id=b3eb773b35&e=672f0b89c4   Web Arab News Digest Jordan pauses Summary: A downed Royal Jordanian Air Force pilot captured by IS is testing Jordan’s commitment to the anti-IS coalition. More tests expected in future as casualties mount. On Christmas Eve First Lieutenant Muadh Kasasbeh became the first pilot of the war to be captured by IS forces after parachuting into the Euphrates river in northeastern Syria. According to IS his plane was shot down by a heat-seeking missile, a claim dismissed by the US and Jordan. http://us7.campaign-archive2.com/?u=2820afb1fbae0c99e88fb6f52&id=b3eb773b35&e=672f0b89c4 An interview / interrogation with the beleaguered 26 year old airman subsequently appeared in IS’s Dabiq magazine, together with a picture of him wearing the morbid orange jump suit, triggering outrage in Jordan and the wider Arab world, and placing the Jordanian government under pressure over its response to this hostage situation. Two attempts over New Year by US forces to rescue Kasasbeh from IS’s de-facto capital Raqqa were driven back. Since then Jordanian media have speculated that the country may have to pull out of the anti-IS coalition altogether. One Jordanian MP said Jordan’s air campaign against IS has been temporarily paused while the hostage crisis plays out. In his interview / interrogation with IS Lieutenant Kasasbeh described how the US lead air war against IS is being coordinated from the Al Udeid airbase in Qatar with “Jordan flying F16s equipped with laser guided bombs, Saudis with upgraded F15s equipped with laser guided bombs, Kuwait with aerial refueling aircraft, Bahrain with F16s, Morocco with upgraded F16s, Qatar, and Oman.”  This is not the first time Jordan has found itself in the frontline, but it now faces two urgent, growing and closely related problems - the civil war in Syria and the broader fight against IS in Syria and Iraq. King Abdullah II has personally taken a leading role in this international campaign and has shown he is prepared to get tough. In the last week of 2014 Jordan ended its moratorium on the death penalty and hanged 11 men - the first executions since 2006. Last year Der Spiegel reported that the US was training Syrian rebels to combat IS in Jordan. But many Jordanians are uncomfortable with a war against any Arab neighbour, in contrast to, for example, Turkey that has once again chosen a less interventionist path. A significant, militant salafi minority already exists in Jordan that has produced numerous prominent Islamist leaders including Salafi clerics Abu Qatada and Al-Maqdisi, and Al Qaeda leaders Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi and Sheikh Abdullah Azzam. The danger is that as Jordan’s military commitments grow, so does the risk of blowback, while support for the war among ordinary Jordanians could start to ebb away. We circulate below an article by Al Jazeera reports that finds some Jordanians questioning whether the country should back away from the war on IS. Jordanians' support for war on ISIL wavers   Rays of midday sunshine sneak through windows of an old cafe, located at the crossroads between the old and the new downtown of Amman. But the sun fails to beat the bitter cold or to clear the grim atmosphere that has been haunting the city since the capture of Jordanian pilot Moazz Kassasbeh by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) forces in Syria. In the old cafe, three young men play cards and chat while smoking shisha. They debate their country's recent involvement in the war on ISIL. One of the young men, Arafat Mohammad, asks the waiter to switch to a TV news channel in hopes of hearing about Kassasbeh. Since his capture 12 days ago, the 26-year-old pilot has remained the subject of conversation in cafes, homes and workplaces across the country. As the hostage crisis drags on, opposition to the war has risen, leaving Jordanians questioning whether it is their war. "Absolutely not our war. ISIL has not attacked us at our home," 35-year-old Ahmad al-Saoub told Al Jazeera. But for a young man like Mohammad, the war on ISIL could prevent the group from reaching to Jordan. "This group must be destroyed because if they grew, they will come to Jordan and do what they have done in Syria and Iraq," the 24-year-old told Al Jazeera.   Jordanian officials have justified the war as a preventive measure to protect their country from the spread of the group, as well as their responsibility to defend the peaceful image of Islam and fight extremism in the region.   In September, Jordanians were taken by surprise as they awoke to the news of Jordanian fighter jets participating in US-led airstrikes against ISIL in Syria - just two weeks after Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour denied their country was "part of any coalition or would lead wars for others". Lawmakers were not consulted over Jordan's participation in the war. Although some critics feared that joining the war against ISIL could trigger retaliation by the group, it was not until Kassasbeh was captured that the consequences of joining the war crept into Jordanian homes. His capture has created unprecedented support for the pilot and his family, but has also triggered opposition to the war, which many fear could take the lives of young Jordanians.   "Sending our noble soldiers and children miles away to fight ISIL is actually fighting the war on behalf of [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad and the US,” deputy Assaf Shawbaki - one of eight MPs who issued a statement calling on the Jordanian government to withdraw from the war - told Al Jazeera. According to Shawbaki, the war on ISIL only "serves agendas of foreign forces in the region", a viewpoint shared by many other Jordanians. "In Jordan, it is no big secret that certain decisions are not ours but rather imposed on us by our allies," Saoub said. On Friday, a group of young men in the northern city of Jerash held a protest called "Not Our War" to denounce sending their army and using their weapons in "Arab countries while the real enemy [Israel] is only metres away". Both the Islamic Action Front and the coalition of leftist (communist and Baathist) groups issued statements in solidarity with the pilot and called on the government "to rethink its priorities" and consider fighting extremism with economic and social reforms rather than military power. But in Jordan, where the military employs almost 150,000 people, "almost each family" has ties with the army, which makes them "think twice before criticising any involvement of the army anywhere" Saoub says. Criticising the armed forces is a red line for media in Jordan as well. Meanwhile, Kassasbeh's family issued an appeal to ISIL to treat their son well. "He is not a hostage. He is a guest between his Muslim brothers and we hope they will have mercy with him,"  Safi Kassasbeh, the pilot's father, told Josat TV, a local television channel.   Disappointed by the " limited" response by the government, Kassasbeh's tribe organised a protest in their hometown of Aii, in the southern governorate of Karak on Friday.   "We know the King personally is concerned but the government has not done the minimum to at least emotionally support his family," Jawad Kassasbeh, the pilot's brother, told Al Jazeera over the phone. Jordanian officials, however, refused to comment on the progress of any measures taken to free the pilot.   "Our priority here is ensuring his safe return and we will share information with the public at the right time," a senior government official said on the condition of anonymity. One day after Kassasbeh was captured, Ensour told his tribe that his government had started "international negotiations" to release Kassasbeh but did not specify with whom. A government source told Al Jazeera Arabic there were negotiations with Qatar and Turkey. Jordanian Salafi cleric Mohammad Shalabi, known as Abu Sayyaf, said he learned ISIL would demand the release of some prisoners in Jordan to free Kassasbeh. In a statement published by local media, Abu Sayyaf named two Iraqi prisoners who are on death row in Jordan for "terrorism" charges: Sajida al-Rishawi, the failed suicide bomber responsible for the triple hotel bombings in Amman that killed 60 people in 2005, and Ziad al-Karbouli, who planned, along with 12 others sentenced to death in absentia, attacks on Jordanian trucks that killed four people. But as opposition for the war rises at home, analysts say, Jordan will consider the swap deal to avoid the worst-case scenario. "The price is too high, but if Kassasbeh is executed like other hostages, the government will lose the trust of the people," analyst Hassan Abu Hanniah told Al Jazeera. Jordanian officials have made it clear that they will not withdraw from the war. "This is not how countries respond. The war is ours," the government source told Al Jazeera. But as Jordan wages a war against extremism at home, the swap will be "like swallowing poison for the Jordanian authorities," Abu Hanniah said. The number of Jordanian jihadist fighters in Syria and Iraq is estimated at 2,000. Two rescue mission by anti-ISIL coalition forces reportedly failed on January 2 to free Kassasbeh. Sources told Al Jazeera Arabic that two helicopters attempted to deploy paratroopers in Raqqa city on Friday around 2am, but were deterred by fire from ISIL forces. Jordanian sources would neither confirm nor deny the reports. Last week, in an interview published by ISIL, Kassasbeh appeared dressed in the style of orange jumpsuit that hostages James Foley and Peter Kassing wore before being executed by ISIL. In the interview, Kassasbeh said he anticipated the group would kill him. He also confirmed ISIL's version of the story about downing the plane with an anti-aircraft missile, which Jordanian and US officials denied. Meanwhile, his pictures are still circulating on social media with the hashtag #Weareallmoaz, with prayers for his return. A new hash tag, #NotOurWar, is tending among Jordanians who oppose the war. "We have a real battle for a change here," Saoub said. *** You are subscribed to Salon as micheletkearney@gmail.com. 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