IDF deploys new unit, drones and barriers to strengthen Jordanian border security

The State of Israel and Israel Defense Forces are reportedly planning to invest heavily in securing the increasingly volatile border between Israel and Jordan. The ambitious security plan will include the Eastern Brigade, a new IDF regional division created specifically to secure the Jordanian border.

The Israeli military is expected to construct high-tech barriers and drones as complementary border security assets. Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Amir Baram is expected to present a comprehensive border security plan that will consist of three phases.

Israel will initially deploy hundreds of radars and advanced cameras along the border. The high-tech surveillance equipment will greatly facilitate the rapid deployment of Israeli forces to any border location in cases of smuggling or infiltration attempts from Jordan into Israel.

The border between Israel and Jordan has been mostly calm since 1994, when the two countries signed a peace agreement. However, the Iranian regime and its regional terrorist proxies are currently trying to undermine the Hashemite Kingdom’s sovereignty and use its territory to establish a new front against Israel.

Last week, a terrorist in Jordan murdered three Israeli civilians at the Allenby Crossing on the Jordanian border. While the Jordanian monarchy seeks stable ties with Israel and the West, many Jordanian citizens with family roots in the West Bank sympathize with the Iranian-backed terrorist organization Hamas and other extremist Islamist groups.

The Jordanian border is also used for smuggling weapons to terrorist cells in Judea and Samaria, internationally known as the West Bank.

The Israeli military is currently using several battalions to protect the Jordanian border. However, many of of those forces are temporarily stationed and often less familiar with procedures. The new border security plan envisions two or three divisions that will become specialized in protecting a particular sector of the border. The new plan includes strengthening border security in the Dead Sea area, which features several hotels and tourist attractions on the Israeli side.

Israel’s previous Sinai border project cost approximately NIS 2.5 billion (about $660 million), while the Jordanian border project is expected to be even more costly.

The Arava Desert, located along the southern Jordanian border, is especially vulnerable, with small, isolated rural Israeli communities situated near the border.

In April, local Israeli residents in the Arava Desert expressed concerns that terrorists would carry out an Oct. 7-type invasion from Jordan. Local Israeli communities close to the Jordanian border said they feel no less vulnerable than the Gaza border communities that were brutally attacked by Hamas terrorists last October.

Neta Turkletoyev, a resident of the Israeli border community Be’er Ora, had expressed security concerns that many locals share.  

"We're all lost. We don't understand what's happening. We often hear explosions without any sirens, only learning what it was about after the fact. We're afraid. It reminds us of the days before October 7, when we’ve done nothing about missiles being launched against us. We feel like something big will happen soon," Turkletoyev said in April.

At the time, Dror Shmueli, a local security head criticized the IDF for neglecting the protection of Israeli border communities adjacent to the Jordanian border.

“The border is abandoned, the IDF neglects the local alert squads and isn’t giving enough equipment. The government realized this on October 7. If a terrorist cell arrives without warning, it will take forever for the military to arrive," he assessed.

It is currently unclear whether this local criticism had any impact on Israel’s plan to boost security along the Jordanian border.