Jordan foils 'sabotage' plot involving rockets and drones, 16 arrested
Jordan said the members of the group received training in Lebanon, as Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam expressed solidarity with the kingdom.
Jordanian authorities announced on Tuesday that they detained 16 people in connection with a Lebanon-linked “sabotage” plot that included manufacturing drones and rockets.
The General Intelligence Department said it had "foiled plans aimed at targeting national security, sowing chaos and sabotage within Jordan.” A total of 16 individuals were detained after being monitored since 2021, the official news agency Petra cited the department as saying.
The plans, authorities said, relate to manufacturing rockets and drones, possession of explosives and firearms and recruiting operatives in Jordan and abroad, Petra reported.
Government spokesperson Mohammad Al Mawmouni said at a press conference that the detainees belonged to an “unlicensed and dissolved group.” In confessions aired on the state broadcaster Al-Mamlaka, some of the accused said they were recruited by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization that has been officially dissolved in Jordan.
Jordan identified Ibrahim Mohammed as the main defendant. He allegedly facilitated the travel of two group members, Moaz al-Ghanem and Abdullah Hisham, to Lebanon in 2021 to meet with the cell leader in Beirut. The two received training there, according to the state broadcaster Al-Mamlaka.
Several sites were established as part of the plot, including a factory in the Amman suburb of Zarqa — a known hub of Islamist activity — and a storage facility in the capital, according to Al-Mamlaka.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam expressed “full solidarity” with Jordan in a phone call with his Jordanian counterpart, Jafar Hassan, according to Lebanon’s official National News Agency.
Tuesday's news adds to a number of security threats that Jordan has seen in recent years. In May, Reuters reported that Jordan thwarted an Iran-linked plot to smuggle weapons into the kingdom.
Abu Ali al-Askari, the security head of the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia in Iraq, threatened Jordan last April, saying in a Telegram post that the group is “prepared to arm” 12,000 fighters in the kingdom.
Later that month, Jordan summoned the Iranian ambassador after comments in Iranian media suggested the kingdom would be the “next target” if it helps Israel against the Islamic Republic. The escalation came after Jordan shot down drones that entered its airspace during Iran’s April 2024 strikes on Israel. Amman said it also intercepted drones and missiles during a similar Iranian attack in October.
In January 2024, a drone strike from the pro-Iran Islamic Resistance of Iraq killed three US soldiers at a military outpost in northeast Jordan, close to the Syrian border. The attack occurred amid the militia's response to the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
