SECURITY AT THE JORDAN-IRAQ BORDER

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 006270

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR PRM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/03/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREF PREL PTER MOPS IZ JO
SUBJECT: SECURITY AT THE JORDAN-IRAQ BORDER

REF: AMMAN 297

Classified By: CDA David Hale for reasons 1.4 (b),(d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Attacks inside Iraq near the Iraqi/Jordanian
border crossing in recent months have focused GOJ attention
on security on the Jordanian side of the border. Some
security measures have contributed to delays for commercial
and humanitarian traffic headed into Iraq. NGO officials
have also expressed concern for refugees camped at the
crossing.END SUMMARY.


2. (C) According to border liaison personnel of the U.S.
Army,s Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Center (HACC)
attached to Embassy Amman, insurgents have set off small
explosive devices and fired on U.S. forces near Checkpoint
129, approximately 20 kilometers inside of Iraq, each month
since April around the monthly rotations of Iraqi border
staff at the Karamah/Trebil crossing on the Jordanian/Iraqi
frontier. A July 24 attack took place unusually close to the
Jordanian border facilities, which were last targeted by a
suicide bomber in December (reftel). U.S. military contacts
tell us the Iraqi border authorities, compound (housed in
former hotels) was attacked July 24 by a single vehicle. As
the car approached the entrance of the compound from the
east, the attacker set off his suicide bomb, injuring three
Iraqi border officers (one seriously) and causing minor
structural damage. Subsequent delays and closures slowed
border operations on both sides. Since then Jordanians have
been enforcing stricter security measures including thorough
searches of all vehicles, trucks, and persons attempting to
enter Jordan.


3. (C) The bombing also affected Iranian Kurdish refugees who
have been seeking entry into Jordan at this crossing since
January (reftel). On July 25, Jordanian Arabic daily Al-Arab
Al-Yawm reported "approximately 200 Kurdish refugees living
in the buffer zone on the Jordanian-Iraqi border rushed to
the Jordanian gate upon hearing the sound of the explosion
asking for security protection." While UNHCR's Ruyashid
Field Office confirmed that there were no casualties among
the refugees, this attack could compound the movement
restrictions that Jordan,s Ministry of Interior has started
to impose on the Jordanian Hashemite Charitable Organizations
(JHCO),which recently signed a two-month service agreement
to supply limited aid to these refugees pending the
relocation to northern Iraq of the Al Tash camp near Ramadi.
(NOTE: Jordan,s Interior Ministry hopes to avoid
re-establishing refugee camps at the border since the GOJ
agreed this spring to transfer the population of the UNHCR
"No Man,s Land" Camp at the Karama/Trebil crossing to
another UNHCR camp in Ruyashid, 70 kilometers inside the
border. The GOJ continues to deny entry to new asylum
seekers from Iraq. END NOTE.)


4. (C) To further bolster border security, Jordan began
implementing a zero tolerance policy on July 26 toward
vehicles suspected of fuel smuggling. The GOJ,s intent is to
turn back smuggling vehicles that make it through the Iraqi
side of the border crossing so as to prevent their entry into
Jordan.
HALE