Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, attends an interview with Reuters in Amman, Jordan, Sept. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak

Jordan said on Tuesday it had arrested 16 people linked to the Muslim Brotherhood who were trained and financed in Lebanon and had plotted attacks on targets inside the kingdom involving rockets and drones.

Authorities said at least one rocket was ready to be launched as part of an operation that had been under surveillance by security forces since 2021.

A security source said the suspects were connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest opposition group, while the head of the cell who trained some of its members was based in Lebanon.

The Brotherhood have been accused of instigating anti-government street protests in Jordan, which has a large Palestinian population.

Security forces found a rocket manufacturing facility alongside a drone factory, according to a statement by the General Intelligence Department released on state media.

“The plot aimed at harming national security, sowing chaos and causing material destruction inside the kingdom,” the statement said.

The suspects were referred to the state security court for trial.

“We are talking about new tactics, rockets and drones. This means a complete change in the way the Muslim Brotherhood are dealing with Jordan and targeting its security,” Amer Al Sabaileh, a prominent security analyst, told Reuters.

Government spokesperson Mohammad al Momani told a press briefing the government would be airing full confessions from the suspects, some of whom had been trained in Lebanon.

The rockets found in a secret hideout on the outskirts of the capital were being manufactured with a 3 to 5 km range for use against targets inside the kingdom, Momani added.

A security source said dozens of rockets were found.

Over the past year, Jordan has said it has foiled attempts to smuggle weapons by infiltrators linked to pro-Iranian militias in Syria and Lebanon-based radical Palestinian groups.

They said some of the arms were bound for the neighboring West Bank, adding that they have arrested several Jordanians linked to Palestinian terrorists.

Security officials said the incidents were terrorism-related based on the quantities of explosives found.

They said the plot was linked to Iran and its allies’ clandestine efforts to recruit agents to carry out acts of sabotage within the kingdom to destabilize one of Washington’s allies in the region.

Jordan has over 3,500 American troops stationed in several bases and, since the war between Israel and Palestinian terrorists in Gaza erupted in October 2023, it has been increasingly targeted by Iranian-backed groups operating in neighboring Syria and Iraq.