There has long been a tendency to view violence and instability in the Middle East as neatly divided by national borders and armies. However, as fighting in Syria continues to spill over into Iraq – where extremist groups have filled a power vacuum formed by internal instability and insecurity – it is clear that military aid alone cannot contain the region's conflicts.
Jordan is no stranger to these struggles, having witnessed decades of violence, instability, and invasion in neighboring Iraq and Palestine. More recently, the Syrian civil war has slowed once-thriving bilateral trade, while sending more than 600,000 refugees across the kingdom's borders. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict provokes demonstrations in Jordan with every flare-up, with calls for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador in the wake of the Gaza offensive
The full article originally appears in Al Arabiya.