The message sent by His Majesty King Abdullah II to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Jordan Armed Forces, Major General Yousef Huneiti, carries significant and strategic implications on multiple levels. It conveys clear signals to both domestic and external audiences.

The message calls for building a comprehensive strategy to modernize the Jordan Armed Forces, ensuring a high degree of flexibility, agility, and combat efficiency. It emphasizes the development of defensive and offensive cyber operations systems, the strengthening of reserve forces within the army, and the involvement of research and studies centers as well as defense industries in the process of military modernization.

The most important question, however, concerns the reasons and contexts that prompted the King to endorse this strategic military and security orientation. Two main reasons stand out, both closely linked to the new contexts shaping the global system and the region, as well as to lessons learned from recent wars, particularly after the 7 October 2023 attack, the subsequent Israeli war on Gaza and its regional repercussions, including the twelve day war between Israel and Iran.

The first reason is directly related to the transformation in the nature of warfare today, a reality that has become evident in recent conflicts. This is especially clear in the growing role of drones and emerging technologies in warfare, and more importantly in the major shift and rapid development in artificial intelligence and its implications for security breaches and espionage. Most dangerous of all is the rise of psychological and morale warfare, the ability to manipulate public emotions and ideas, and the increasing use of algorithms and cyber warfare to an unprecedented degree. This means that the war on Gaza and its aftermath represent a new generation and a different era of hybrid warfare, one that combines scientific, research, technological, security, and military dimensions with traditional mechanisms, robotics, guerrilla warfare, and drones, which have become a lethal and integral component of modern conflicts. This pattern has also been evident in other wars, including in Sudan and in the Russia–Ukraine war.

These ideas have long been a central focus of the King’s thinking. They are not new to his vision and have been addressed early on in his book Our Last Best Chance, The Pursuit of Peace in a Time of Peril. While they once formed part of his broader political outlook, they have today become a top national priority and a fundamental requirement for safeguarding national security and enhancing the state’s ability to confront new military and security challenges.

The second reason underlying this new strategic direction lies in the major strategic transformations surrounding Jordan. These include changes in the nature of the international system, which is currently at a critical and transitional moment, with direct repercussions on international dynamics first and regional interactions second. It is well known that the transition from one international system to another, for example from a unipolar system to a multipolar system, is neither easy nor short term. It is a complex process marked by crises, turning points, and regional spillovers. Such conditions push major and great powers to prioritize the protection of their interests and national security, while small states are often more exposed than others to the turbulence of these violent transitional moments.

Regional dynamics are inevitably intertwined with the international system. The Middle East, in particular, remains one of the most volatile regions in the world today, plagued by tensions, crises, and problems that are often structural and long term in nature. Against this backdrop, the new strategic orientation carries an important implication, namely the King’s conviction that the coming phase will not bring stability, calm, or regional peace. On the contrary, it is likely to be turbulent and dangerous, marked by emerging and future sources of threat that necessitate a process of transformation, described by the King as “structural,” within the armed forces. This was clearly articulated in a key passage of the royal message, in which he states, “In our commitment to strengthening the capabilities of our Arab Army and continuously developing its capacities and tools, we direct you to prepare a comprehensive strategy and a clear roadmap to achieve a structural transformation in the armed forces over the next three years, enabling them to confront current and future threats, rapid changes, and emerging challenges imposed by technological developments and the expansion of the operational environment.”

In conclusion, the royal message delivers core messages to both domestic and external audiences. Domestically, it underscores the importance of confidence in the armed forces and affirms the state’s awareness and active efforts to develop military and security capabilities to confront new and dangerous sources of threat, and to manage ongoing and future international and regional transformations. Externally, it signals that Jordan is dealing seriously with external challenges and threats, that it is capable of confronting them, and that it will not accept the imposition of any regional or international agendas or visions that contradict its strategic interests or national security.

Politics and Society Institute