Jordan says it foiled ISIS attack on Israeli soldiers

The cell of four, all of whom became radicalized online by ISIS, planned to attack IDF soldiers in the Jordan valley as well as Jewish targets in Jordan.

By Meira Svirsky, World Israel News

Jordan announced it had foiled an ISIS attack on Israeli troops stationed near the border, according to a Tuesday report in the Jordanian newspaper Al Ra’i.

The plot, which was uncovered by Jordanian intelligence agents in February, followed a lengthy investigation into a cell of four suspected terrorists, all of whom were from Kerak (south of Amman) and became radicalized online from ISIS propaganda.

The group was allegedly planning to ambush Jordanian Border Police, commandeer their vehicles and weapons and use them against Israeli soldiers in the Ghor es-Safi area in the Jordan Valley, located near the southern part of the Dead Sea).

The group had also planned to attack Jewish targets in Jordan.

The plot had developed to the point where “divisions of labor” were assigned to each member. The first suspect, who has been in custody since the end of last year, was to provide logistical support, food for the mission and first aid in case any members of the cell were injured. The second suspect was assigned the job of securing a weapon for himself as well as for the first and third members of the cell, and the fourth member was to secure a weapon for himself.

The group met a number of times and had already begun to search for weapons, a process which continued even after the first suspect was arrested. The rest of the cell was arrested in February.

All four were charged with conspiring to carry out terrorist attacks and promoting the ideology of a terrorist group, according to their charge sheet.