A little less than two weeks before US President Donald Trump's scheduled visit to Israel, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, landed in the country. It was the third visit of "Fighting Joe" to the country since becoming chairman in the fall of 2015. On May 9, he met with his Israeli counterpart, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, followed by meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and four Israeli generals, each representing a different military branch: Chief of Operations Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon; Chief of Planning Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin; the commander of the air force, Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel; and Chief of Manpower Maj. Gen. Moti Almoz.
Many issues were on Dunford's agenda during this visit to Israel, though his main task was to prepare for the arrival of the US commander in chief. Numerous sources in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, as well as Western diplomatic representatives in Israel, concur that the "burning issue" for the United States is the stability of the Kingdom of Jordan, considering all the problems accumulating along its northeastern border, especially with Syria and Iraq.
Two days before Dunford's arrival in Israel, a major international military exercise called "Eager Lion" began in Jordan. Headed by the United States, it involves 20 countries. Thousands of soldiers take part in this annual exercise, but this year, it has been the subject of particular interest — and the cause of particular concern — especially for Damascus. Reports making the rounds in Syria claim that the exercise will provide cover for a military invasion of Syrian territory, in an attempt to destroy Islamic State (IS) forces and ease the heavy pressure on Jordan's northern border. This would not be an attempt to occupy Syrian territory, but rather a military action in Syrian territory intended to continue breaking IS' military strength. The target would be areas surrounding the Syrian town of Daraa that are still controlled by IS.
Events in the border areas adjacent to Jordan are very disturbing to the Hashemite kingdom and contribute to a sense of internal instability. Jordan is being flooded by Syrian refugees and has a hard time dealing with the new situation. It feels threatened by the continuation of skirmishes between the various rebel factions and the Shiite axis. Amman's nightmare scenario is that the Syrian civil war spills into the kingdom and that IS attempts to find greener pastures in Jordanian territory after the Islamic militant group is pushed out of Syria and Iraq.
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