A complete and convincing account of what happened in the past two weeks has yet to emerge. The massacre at the church in the village of Hamoud in Karak Governorate took place, and two days later the perpetrators were in the hands of security forces. About a week later, the investigation was complete, and the three terrorists were referred to the State Security Court, which quickly held its first two sessions. This suggests the case has been placed on a fast track that leaves no room for doubt about the state's determination to confront terrorism and terrorists.
اضافة اعلان
Widespread anxiety gripped public circles across the country. But the details that emerged about the case, and what officials said, gave the impression that the family-based cell that carried out the attack consisted of isolated individuals rather than an organisation acting in a coordinated way.
Before the public could settle into a sense of reassurance, a brutal terrorist incident took place in the heart of the capital, Amman. A young man who had served a sentence for plotting an armed attack on a security centre in Irbid, and who had just been released from prison, attacked a security officer in the street and tried to seize his weapon. Security officer Jawad Al-Slayta was martyred while holding his rifle. A colleague intervened with courage worthy of Jordan's security men, and managed to neutralise the terrorist and arrest him.
Tension among Jordanians reached its peak after this heinous crime. Previous explanations are no longer enough to convince people that what is happening is merely the work of lone wolves. What drew attention in the two terrorist incidents is that the leader of the Karak cell, and the perpetrator of the attack on the martyr Al-Slayta, were both in prison and had recently been released. This opens the door to many questions about whether an organised structure exists inside prisons. They are like time bombs being activated as soon as they leave prison, either through individual will charged with extremist ideas, or on the direction of leaders inside the prisons.
Of course, there are dozens, perhaps more, of convicts in cases similar to those of Hazaa and Mohannad, some of whom have already left prison, and others who are on their way to completing their sentences.
It is clear that we do not know the situation of these people, nor do we have an accurate assessment of their orientations after prison, or even while they are in reform and rehabilitation centres. In many past cases, many of them returned to the path of terrorism as soon as they were released. But for years, the raging conflict zones on our doorstep, Syria and Iraq, served as a refuge for those calling themselves jihadists. There was an advanced organisational structure and effective institutions, offering sufficient space and ideological discourse for terrorist activity. Most importantly, there was an ideal "enemy" meeting the conditions for fighting, namely ISIS and similar terrorist organisations.
Syria and Iraq are no longer ideal arenas for ISIS members. The organisation's structure in both countries has been shattered, and its military and material capabilities have greatly diminished. It is now in a phase of rebuilding its ranks in narrow geographic margins.
Given this situation, people like these Jordanians found no option but to carry out their terrorist agenda in their local arenas, in an attempt to find a foothold elsewhere than Syria and Iraq, to revive the organisation and rebuild its recently declining reputation, relying on arenas such as the Jordanian one, which have long been a source of recruits for terrorist groups, from the era of Al-Qaeda to the "Caliphate State" of ISIS in Syria.
Has this rebuilding and fresh push begun this time from the prisons, or is a larger organisational entity taking shape abroad?
After the Karak crime, we feared a repeat of terrorist action, and that unfortunately happened. Without an accurate diagnosis of the situation at present, we are holding our hearts in our hands.
