Israel’s strike against a group of high-ranking Hizballah operatives, which also killed an Iranian general, met with approval and praise from many Arabs, much of it expressed via social media. In explaining this surprising groundswell of appreciation for the Israeli military, Abdulrahman al-Rashed points to Hizballah’s “heinous actions of targeting its rivals in Lebanon and its involvement in the killing of thousands in Syria.” He continues:

Those who shifted from admiring Hizballah to hating the group did so in less than one decade. These people used to support Hizballah in Lebanon in the past and they used to adopt the Shiite party’s political and military agenda. Anger began to surface when Hizballah’s militias occupied West Beirut [in 2008]—three years after the party’s involvement in the assassination of [Lebanese] Sunni leader Rafiq al-Hariri in 2005.

Hizballah, and also Iran, have lost the respectful and honorable status which they’ve always enjoyed in the name of Islam, Lebanon, and Palestine. Hizballah’s biggest fall [from grace] came in the wake of its clear sectarian bias in Syria as its members joined the filthy war which has killed more than 250,000 people in the biggest crime in the history of the region. This Iranian involvement in Syria will also have further repercussions.

There’s no doubt, in my view, that if a confrontation occurs between Israel and Hizballah or between Israel and Iran, many Arabs will pray for the defeat of Hizballah’s militias and [the] generals of its Iranian ally. This strange feeling, even if temporary, reflects the change in the region’s alliances and political stances.

Last week, Jordanian police arrested sixteen members of the country’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood for acquiring explosives, trying to manufacture drones, and planning rocket attacks. The cell was likely working in coordination with Hamas (the Palestinian offshoot of the Brotherhood) and Hizballah, and perhaps receiving funding from Iran. Ghaith al-Omari provides some background:

The Brotherhood has been active in Jordan since the 1940s, and its relations with the government remained largely cooperative for decades even as other political parties were banned in the 1950s. In exchange, the Brotherhood usually (but not always) supported the palace’s foreign policy and security measures, particularly against Communist and socialist parties.

Relations became more adversarial near the turn of the century after the Brotherhood vociferously opposed the 1994 peace treaty with Israel. The Arab Spring movement that emerged in 2011 saw further deterioration. Unlike other states in the region, however, Jordan did not completely crack down on the MB, instead seeking to limit its influence.

Yet the current Gaza war has seen another escalation, with the MB repeatedly accusing the government of cooperating with Israel and not doing enough to support the Palestinians.

Jordanian security circles are particularly worried about the MB’s vocal wartime identification with Hamas, an organization that was considered such a grave security threat that it was expelled from the kingdom in 1999. The sentiment among many Jordanian officials is that the previous lenient approach failed to change the MB’s behavior, emboldening the group instead.