Jordan fight to 'eradicate terrorism', as former PM says thousands 'active' with IS

Jordan’s interior minister said on Sunday his country joined the battle against the Islamic State (IS) group to “eradicate terrorism” and “protect itself before extremists reach it,” denying the decision had been made due to pressure from the international community.

"The war against the [Islamic State] was that of the Jordanians, the Saudis and the Syrians, even before it became that of the United States and western states," Interior Minister Hussein Majali told attendees at a seminar in the Jordanian capital Amman.

Majali added that Arab countries would be more negatively affected by IS due to their close proximity to the group, which has overrun vast areas in both Iraq and Syria in recent months.

A US-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes against IS for several weeks, although the group has continued to gain ground in Iraq’s western Anbar province. IS wants to establish a state traversing international borders and is believed to have large numbers of foreign fighters in its ranks.

Interior Minister Majali said Jordan is the target of “terrorists and extremists” in the region and said their domestic security agencies were working “day and night” to protect the country against attacks.

He said “terrorists” had been raised in “immoderate Islamic homes, in the prisons and in abnormal social surroundings.”

A large number of Jordanians have gone to fight with IS, according to the country’s former Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit.

The ex-premier said on Sunday 1,300 Jordanians have joined the group and that 200 of them have been killed in the fighting.

Speaking in Amman he estimated “between 2,000 and 4,000” Jordanians are “active” with IS and said Iraq’s “dangerous” security situation could have negative repercussions for Jordan, which has already come under severe pressure from the influx of Syrians fleeing their brutal civil war.

Interior Minister Majali warned at Sunday’s seminar Jordan was yet to feel the full toll of dealing with high numbers of refugees entering from Syria.

"The negative effects on Jordanian society from the presence of these refugees have not appeared yet," he said, adding that these effects would become noticeable soon.

A total of 647,000 Syrians have been registered as refugees in Jordan since civil war erupted in Syria almost four years ago. Before the war started, 750,000 Syrians were living in Jordan already.