AMU Homeland Security Intelligence Middle East Opinion

U.S. Increases Military Presence in Jordan

By William Tucker

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that Washington had sent additional troops to the Jordan-Syria border to assist in the management of refugees and to monitor the status of Syria’s chemical weapons. The U.S. has had a troop presence in Jordan for some time and this additional deployment shouldn’t be construed as a build up towards military intervention in Syria. There has been some speculation over the last six months or so that Syrian president Bashir al-Assad would attempt to turn his country’s civil war into a regional conflict. Although several nations in the region are involved in Syria clandestinely, they have sought to prevent any spill over of violence into neighboring nations. The additional U.S. forces in Jordan are just one more aspect of the containment approach.

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