Al Jazeera America quotes Rafik Hariri Center Resident Fellow Faysal Itani on how the presence of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham in Iraq could affect stability in Jordan:
To be sure, most analysts doubt that is true and suggest instead that disaffected citizens may be piggybacking on the Islamic State’s demonstrated capacity for stoking unrest in Jordan’s neighbors. Others point out that while sectarian governments in Syria and Iraq have provided fertile ground for the Islamic State’s precipitous takeover of Sunni lands, and that government armies have been either unwilling (Syria) or unable (Iraq) to stop them, Jordan has neither of those vulnerabilities.
“You could see terror attacks, maybe, but what [the Islamic State] is doing in Syria and Iraq is far more profound than terror. They’re building military and political capabilities, which they can’t do in Jordan,” said Faysal Itani, a fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C. “It’s far less oppressive, doesn’t have sectarian lines, is less militarized, and the security forces are real security forces.”