A US planning force in Jordan

(BRUSSELS2) The US military secretly sent a taskforce more than 150 men and women in Jordan to assist the Jordanian forces in the face of the influx of Syrian refugees... and other tasks. This taskforce is based in a Jordanian military training center located less than 35 miles from the border, in a former quarry north of Amman, reveals today the New York Times.

Installed since summer

Led by a senior officer, it includes communication specialists, logistics experts, trainers and staff staff as well as a diplomat from the Refugee and Migration Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The task force began this work this summer. But this is after an exercise held in May”Eager Lion 2012" — which saw the participation of 12.000 soldiers from 19 countries, including special forces — that the first elements arrived. In fact, they remained in the exercise.

Prepare for the worst

First function of this US mission: to help the Jordanians to manage the influx of refugees. The country hosts around 180.000 refugees, even if the summer rhythm of 3000 people crossing the border per day has slowed down to a few hundred per day (the Syrian army having reinforced its numbers). The Americans thus provided medical kits, gravel (to stabilize the stable) to the Zaatari camp which shelters approximately 35.000 refugees. But this is not its only objective. The mission thus includes planners responsible for preserving Jordan from the clashes taking place in Syria. It is also about preparing for the possibility that Syria will lose control of its chemical weapons ».

Buffer ?

On the American side, there is also talk of the idea of ​​creating a buffer zone between Syria and Jordan - implemented by Jordanian forces on the Syrian side of the border but supported politically and perhaps logistically by the United States. A “buffer zone” which remains for the moment at the “contingency” stage and not implemented, note our colleagues.

A few skirmishes

While Jordan has been relatively spared from the fighting, recent skirmishes have broken out between the armies of the two countries and in August a 4-year-old girl was injured by a Syrian shell falling on her house in a border town in Jordan. And the risk of a Turkish-style situation with reciprocal mortar fire is a " growing concern in Washington which fears above all an extension of violence to the whole region.

To be continued (on the B2 Club): French tactics in the liberated zones