Jordan deploys Patriot batteries against Syria (my trans – RB)
Georges Malbrunot, Figaro, Feb 22 2012
Jordan is preparing to deploy four batteries of Patriot missiles on its northern border, to protect its own territory and also that of Israel against missile attacks from Syria, according to a European military expert in the Middle East. The Patriots must be supplied by Germany, under a process encouraged by the US, which sold the Patriot system to Germany after the 1990 Gulf War. Berlin had to get approval from Washington for resale to the Jordanian government, which made the request via the German Embassy in Amman. Behind the scenes, Israel urged strongly for the deal to go through. Israel has an anti-missile system on the Lebanese border, allowing it to counter missile attacks from the western part of Syria, but is without defense against missiles launched from the east. The expert says:
These Patriots should be able to intercept Scud missiles over Jordan, before they reach Israel.
The agreement is being finalized. The Patriots should be deployed near Irbid, not far from the Syrian border. Israel is concerned that the Syrian government, if cornered in Damascus by advancing armed insurgents, might decide to launch Scud missiles or M-600s, Iranian-designed missiles with a range of about 300 km that Syria has been making a few years. At the beginning of the revolt, Rami Makhlouf, an influential cousin of Pres Assad, said that any conflict would spread beyond Syria’s borders, if the regime felt cornered. The financier told the NYT in May 2011:
If there is no stability here, there will be none in Israel. No one can guarantee what will happen if the Syrian state is menaced. Do not apply too much pressure on the president. Do not push Syria into doing something she would not want to do.
By taking this step, Jordan, a US ally and signatory to a peace treaty with Israel, remains true to its role as Israel’s glacis on the east. But this mission must be carefully kept secret to avoid displeasing a population which is three-quarters Palestinian, refugees from the other side of the Jordan river after the 1948 and 1967 wars. Jordan, which also fears destabilization by a Syrian regime at bay, has deployed troops near its border with Syria. Since September, some 150 Syrian army deserters have found refuge in the Hashemite kingdom. In a sign that King Abdullah II is wary of ex-soldiers of Assad, they have been placed under the control of military intelligence, which limits them to a camp near al-Salt, 25 km west of Amman, and prevents them from speaking to journalists. Jordan, to which more than 2,000 Syrians have fled over the last year, is ready to manage an influx of refugees onto its territory, if conditions in Syria deteriorate further.
