Contrary to the assumption that says “transnational terrorism has fallen significantly in the post–cold war period due to reduced state sponsorship, increased efforts to thwart terrorism, and the demise of many leftist groups” terrorism in Jordan has maintained the same pace and level. what’s exciting here is to find out that the total number of terrorist operations before the 9/11 attacks was almost 50% higher than in the post-9/11 era. The number of terrorist operations carried out in Jordan from 1970 to 31 December 2018 amounted to 132 terrorist operations, resulting in 156 fatalities and a total of 292 injuries. Interestingly, 34 operations (25.7%) of the total number of operations were attributed to unknown perpetrators (See Table 1). This is in addition to 30 foiled terrorist plots that were thwarted before they were carried out by the security services but are not included in the article here because they may need a separate study
In terms of perpetrators groups, 51 operations were attributed to the wave of revolutionary, Pan-Arabism and leftist terrorism groups that were active from the 1970s to the late 1980s, this period was marked by the wave of Palestinian groups terrorism, where they carried out 17 terrorist operations(12.8%) of the total operations, 7 of which were carried out by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, while the Abu Nidal organization (ANO) a.k.a. Fatah Revolutionary Council, carried out 7 assassinations of Jordanian diplomats, and the Black September organization carried out three operations, the most important of which was the assassination of Jordanian Prime Minister Wasfi Al-Tal, November 28, 1971, in Cairo, Egypt. in addition to 30 operations (22.7%) of the total number of operations, were attributed to the wave of Islamist terrorism groups that were active after the 1980s, of which 10 are attributed to ISIS which started to target the Jordanian interests Beginning in 2015 when ISIS burn Muath al-Kasasbeh. ISIS carried out, its worst terrorist operation, on December 18, 2016 – in the city of Karak resulting in 14 fatalities and 34 injuries, which is the second worst operation in the history of Jordan after the Amman hotel operation. In addition to that, in an operation that is, the first of its kind, members of the terrorist cell -inspired by ISIS- carried out the operations of Fuhais on August 10, and in Salt on August 11.2018, which resulted in 8 deaths of security personnel and 22 injuries; confessed in the State Security Court that they were planning to use a” Drone” loaded with 10 kg of explosives to target a number of security and government headquarters in the area. At the same time, there are also four operations attributed to al-Zarqawi / al-Muwahhidun or al-Tawhid Group, the most famous was the simultaneous suicide bombings on three hotels in Amman, on November 9, 2005, the country’s worst-ever terrorist operation which describes as” Jordan’s 9/11” resulting in 60 fatalities and injured 100 others .
But in the end, despite all these heinous terrorist operations and geopolitical risks, Jordan prevailed and has stayed surprisingly safe and is considered among the nine safest countries in the world in 2017 and classified in 2018 among the lowest countries in the impact of terrorism in the (GTI) .
