Is Jordan About To Launch "Ground War" Against ISIS?

Jordan/Iraq Border Crossing

Supposedly they are for border protection*, but are the thousands of troops Jordan is moving to its border with Iraq the beginning of a ground war against ISIS? NBC received the information from "two Jordanian Govt. officials.

*Note to readers from the US you may not be familiar with the term because it's not done here,  border protection is when a government regulates who is allowed to come across the border from another country. It is something most governments do, just not this particular US administration.

According to the report, "The troops were sent to prevent the infiltration of ISIS fighters into Jordan and as a show of force, according to the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity."

Jordan's King Abdullah last week threatened to make ISIS pay for the death of Muath al-Kasasbeh's after video of the military pilot's murder emerged. He vowed to wage a "harsh" war against ISIS "because this terrorist organization is not only fighting us, but also fighting Islam and its pure values."

Abdullah also pledged to hit ISIS militants "hard in the very center of their strongholds."

While there are pockets of ISIS support across the Iraqi border, Jordan's deployment appeared to be "an intensification of ongoing efforts to secure the border to stop movement of men and weapons" and not the precursor to an incursion, according to Matthew Henman, an analyst at Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre in London. "It underlines a robust response on the part of government and the king in response to the killing of Muath al-Kasasbeh," he added.

The kingdom has unleashed up to 20 missions per day by Jordanian jets targeting the militant group's positions in Syria.

Since the air war against ISIS began the U.S. is averaging about 5 missions/day therefore the Jordanian air strikes represent a significant uptick in the war on ISIS.

But those troops just moved to the border may have a bigger objective than patrolling the border. According to Walid Shoebat

While Jordan kept the story secret, it is now revealed and confirmed that Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab nations are ready to send ground forces into Iraq and Syria to try to destroy ISIS, but are waiting for U.S. forces to join them, according to a Republican senator. When asked if Jordan was onboard with sending ground troops, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) replied, "Yes. Saudi Arabia is onboard, everybody's onboard."

According to Alarabiya news Iraq is about to launch a ground offensive against ISIS:

Iraqi troops will begin a ground offensive “in the weeks ahead” to take back swathes of the country seized by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group, the U.S. coordinator for the international coalition against the militants said on Sunday.

“There will be a major counter offensive on the ground in Iraq,” top U.S. envoy John Allen said in an interview with Jordan’s official Petra news agency.

“In the weeks ahead, when the Iraqi forces begin the ground campaign to take back Iraq, the coalition will provide major firepower associated with that,” he added, stressing that the Iraqis would lead the offensive.

If you believe in coincidences the fact that Jordan is moving troops to the Iraqi border is not related to fact that Iraq is about to launch a ground offensive against ISIS. I am not however a big believer in coincidences.