A central operational theater for Iran and Hezbollah for many years has been Jordan, with direct impact on Judea and Samaria. Iran and Hezbollah have consistently operated in Jordan for more than 25 years, with their efforts intensifying after the IDF’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000.
This effort has two main objectives. The first is to destabilize the governmental stability in Jordan (Among other things, by carrying out terrorist activities within Jordan) and increase the potential for a Shiite axis foothold in the country. The second is to directly carry out terrorist activity against Israel from Jordanian territory and to support terrorist activity from Judea and Samaria while Jordan serves as a transit country (including smuggling weapons to Judea and Samaria), all in order to cause significant damage to the relations between the two countries.
Hezbollah and Iran’s effort in the Jordanian arena is carried out directly vis-à-vis various elements in Jordan, such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Palestinians in the refugee camps and also indirectly through the Palestinian terrorist organizations in Lebanon, and through Shiites who come to Jordan for business or religious pilgrimage to visit Shiite holy sites in Jordan.
Unit 3900 is a joint unit consisting of Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards – Quds Force – Palestine Branch, under the command of Mohammed Said Izadi, known as “Hajj Ramazan”. The main mission of Unit 3900 is to cooperate with Palestinian terrorist organizations to carry out terrorist activity against Israeli targets and against Israeli interests around the world and to provide financial support, knowledge and means.
On April 1, a 9-story building in Beirut’s Dahieh neighborhood was attacked from the air. The target was Hassan Badi’a, known as “Hajj Rabia”, a very senior figure in Unit 3900, who directed Hamas operatives and aided them in an attempt to advance a serious attack in the immediate short term against Israeli civilians. The location of the alleged attack was not disclosed.
On April 15, it was reported that Jordanian intelligence succeeded in thwarting and exposing a significant terrorist infrastructure whose activity began in 2021 and was about to carry out some of its plans. 16 operatives involved were arrested. The infrastructure operatives, who appear to belong to the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Jordan, underwent training in Lebanon and received financial support and professional knowledge from Lebanon from Hamas-Lebanon operatives.
It is possible that these Hamas operatives acted on behalf of Iranian (Quds Force – Palestine Branch) and Hezbollah’s Unit 3900.
Note – As of this writing, we do not know if there is a direct link between Badi’a’s elimination, as published – “promoting a serious attack in the immediate short term against Israeli civilians” – and the Jordanian infrastructure. The Palestine Branch in the Quds Force and Unit 3900 operate simultaneously in several arenas. It is possible that the direct reason for his elimination stems from his promoting another attack in another arena at the same time.
The Jordanian infrastructure operated four main terror cells that organized and engaged in the following activity:
- A cell that worked to smuggle and store C4 explosives , TNT, and SEMTEX-H, as well as automatic weapons, including a ready-to-launch Katyusha rocket that was hidden in the Marj al-Hamam area of Jordan.
- Another cell had already begun the process of producing short-range rockets (range 3-5 km), using local and imported equipment, in a factory in the city of Zarqa and a warehouse in the capital city of Amman, which included storage places and workshops for producing rockets where it was possible to produce up to 300 rockets with the equipment that was seized.
- Another cell was involved in developing UAVs, including a prototype built with the help of external information.
- A fourth cell operated to recruit operatives, who were sent for professional training outside of Jordan.
The Jordanian arena has always been considered a very significant arena in the Iranian strategic view. Today, it receives renewed emphasis in its importance, especially in light of the collapse of the Assad regime and in light of the results of the war in Lebanon. In the Syrian context, the meaning is the “loss” (at least temporarily) of the Syrian arena and the “loss” of Iran’s direct geographical front against Israel from Syria. In the Lebanese context, the Iranian emphasis is on the rehabilitation and force-buildup of Hezbollah against the backdrop of the many difficulties and challenges created in the wake of the war. The Jordanian arena, for of its characteristics, constitutes an alternative.
