The regime in Jordan is facing increasing domestic pressure over its involvement in the international war against the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria, on the one hand, and on Israel’s repeated incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem on the other. The Islamist movement in the kingdom had criticized Jordan’s decision to join the United States and other Arab and Western countries in the war to destroy IS. The Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition group in the country, declared through its political arm the Islamic Action Front (IAF) in September that "this was not our war," as did other moderate Islamist figures.
But the biggest denunciation came from Abu Mohammad al-Maqdisi, the spiritual leader of the Salafist jihadist movement in Jordan. A few days after condemning Jordan’s participation in the international coalition, he was arrested by the authorities for using the Internet to promote radical views. He had published an article on Oct. 27 calling on IS and Jabhat al-Nusra “to unite against the US-led alliance.”
