MAAN, Jordan – Local authorities quickly stripped away public signs of support for the Islamic State group in this desert town. Black flags have been removed from rooftops. Graffiti proclaiming the extremists’ imminent victory have been whitewashed.
But supporters of the Middle East’s most radical extremist group only are laying low after their surprise show of strength in protests last summer. Despite government efforts, support for the Islamic State group is growing in Maan and elsewhere in Jordan, one of the West’s key allies in the region, say Islamic State activists, experts on political Islam and members of rival groups.
Militants talk confidently of eventually having enough numbers to make their takeover of Jordan inevitable.
That may be overconfidence. Hardcore supporters of the Islamic State group’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” likely number in the thousands in a nation of 6.5 million. The government said the threat is overblown. But extremists do have momentum, attracting followers with promises of radical change and an ostensibly more just society at a time when many Jordanians can’t find jobs, struggle with rising prices or feel abandoned by the pro-Western ruling elite.
The war in Syria gives them battlefield experience and a cause. Over the summer, marches were held in Maan, Zarqa and several other cities, with protesters raising black banners and chanting slogans in support of the Islamic State group.
Given the anger and poverty at perceived government neglect, such protests easily could erupt again and spread, warned Maan’s mayor.
Support for the Islamic State group runs strongest among jihadi Salafis. The jihadi Salafi movement backs the waging of violence – holy war, as they portray it – to bring about rule by the strict version of Islamic Shariah law that they contend is the only acceptable interpretation.
Jordan’s jihadi Salafis are part of the broader movement of Salafis, who number in the tens of thousands around Jordan. The vast majority in the movement opposes the jihadi branch and said preaching, not violence, is the way to spread their vision of Islam.
AP writer Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.
