NYT: US Military Task Force in Jordan To Prepare for Syria

Local Editor

The New York Times daily revealed that the United States military has secretly sent a task force of more than 150 planners and other specialists to Jordan.

In its Wednesday's edition, the US famous newspaper stated that its country's step came " to help the armed forces there handle a flood of Syrian refugees, prepare for the possibility that Syria will lose control of its chemical weapons and be positioned should the turmoil in Syria expand into a wider conflict."

The task force, which has been led by a senior American officer, is based at a Jordanian military training center built into an old rock quarry north of Amman.
In parallel, American officials familiar with the operation said "the mission also includes drawing up plans to try to insulate Jordan, an important American ally in the region, from the upheaval in Syria and to avoid the kind of clashes now occurring along the border of Syria and Turkey."
They further unveiled that " the idea of establishing a buffer zone between Syria and Jordan could be supported politically and perhaps logistically by the United States."
"But at this point the buffer is only a contingency," the daily added.
The outpost near Amman could play a broader role should America decided to directly interfere in the Syrian crisis. It is less than 35 miles from the Syrian border and is the closest American military presence to the conflict.

Officials from the Pentagon and Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, declined to comment on the task force or its mission.
According to NYT, Jordan has become increasingly concerned that Islamic militants coming to join the fight in Syria could cross the porous border between the two countries.
The American mission in Jordan quietly began this summer. In May, the United States organized a major training exercise, which was dubbed Eager Lion. About 12,000 troops from 19 countries, including Special Forces troops, participated in the exercise.

After it ended, the small American contingent stayed on and the task force was established at a Jordanian training center north of Amman. "It includes communications specialists, logistics experts, planners, trainers and headquarters staff members," American officials said.

"We have been working closely with our Jordanian partners on a variety of issues related to Syria for some time now," said George Little, the Pentagon press secretary, who added that a US specific concern was the security of Syria's stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons. "As we've said before, we have been planning for various contingencies, both unilaterally and with our regional partners."

Source: NYT, Edited by moqawama.org