In the chaos and turmoil of the modern Middle East, stability is a precious commodity, and no nation in the Arab world protects its stability more closely than the Kingdom of Jordan. From its alliances to its military, and through its diplomatic and geopolitical finesse, Jordan has proved itself adept at avoiding the worst that its region has to offer. When trouble comes to the Kingdom, the nation relies on a highly elite cadre of warfighters known as the Special Forces Group. For more than six decades, these special operators have earned a unique reputation among their peers as one of the most advanced tactical units in the entire region.
Historical Context and the Road to Versatility
The operators of the Special Forces Group are daring commandoes, capable of executing a highly esoteric set of mission objectives that many global special operators never consider. Supported by world-class training facilities, they are highly competitive against their peers, regularly going out of their way to prove their expertise head-to-head. To understand King Abdullah II’s Special Forces Group, one must look back to the nation’s turbulent beginnings.
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan gained its independence in 1946 and was immediately treated to a show of what the modern Middle East would become. First, by taking part in the Palestine War of 1948, then by enduring the assassination of its own king in 1951, and finally by watching its attempt to join forces with Iraq be destroyed by an Iraqi military coup, Jordan found out the hard way that starry-eyed optimism around the Arab world’s future could only really get its people so far. It was not a unique experience for Jordan; after all, the entire region had gone through that same process.
Key Takeaways
- Founded in 1963, Jordan’s Special Forces Group was designed for absolute versatility to counter the rapidly shifting conflicts of the Middle East.
- During the 1970 Black September conflict, the Special Forces Group defended King Hussein against PLO guerrilla fighters in fierce urban combat across Amman.
- A massive 2017 restructuring streamlined the force into the direct-action 101st Battalion and the elite counterterrorism 71st Battalion.
- Candidates face an intense endurance phase and a Commando Course covering desert survival, amphibious operations, and specialized hand-to-hand combat.
- The King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center features a full-scale Airbus A300, robotic targets, and 350 cameras for tactical review.
- The 71st Battalion successfully neutralized Islamic State militants during the 2016 Irbid clashes and the deadly Kerak Castle attack.
But every nation dealt with the chaos of that era in its own way, and in Jordan’s case, special operations forces were a massive part of the answer. The organization that evolved into Jordan’s Special Forces Group was founded in 1963, just five years after Jordan’s attempt to form a federation with Iraq went up in smoke, and just four years before the outbreak of the Six-Day War. Back then, Jordanian leaders understood that preparing highly specific types of special forces for highly specific types of conflicts was a fool’s errand.
Change happened too fast, in too many places at once, and any plan for the future that did not account for that reality would simply be a waste. Instead, the path forward was for Jordan to train its warfighters for ultimate versatility. A successful special operations force in that environment would need to be rock-solid in fundamental combat skills, relying on well-developed core capabilities that would let them adapt to unforeseen circumstances.
They would have to move fast, fight hard, and be able to stay afloat on the rising and falling tides of the Middle East.
The Black September Conflict and Rapid Unit Evolution
Back in 1963, and in the years that followed, the Special Forces Group was arranged as a parachute unit, first and foremost. They trained for a wide range of mission sets, based on the answer to the basic question of what exactly they were parachuting into, but the focus of their training was narrow nonetheless. Many of the soldiers who would soon fill their ranks were the same veterans who had picked up experience in the Six-Day War.
Many others would see battle over the course of the Jordanian Civil War of 1970, widely known as Black September. During the Black September conflict, the Special Forces Group fought on the side of their nation’s leader, King Hussein, against the fedayeen guerrilla fighters of the Palestine Liberation Organization under Yasser Arafat. At one point just before the war, Palestinian forces held nearly seventy foreign nationals hostage in the Jordanian capital city of Amman, demanding that the Special Forces Group disband in order to secure their release.
The Special Forces Group would ultimately survive the conflict, participating in fierce urban combat as well as a counterattack against the advance of Syrian forces onto Jordanian soil. After the Black September conflict, the Special Forces Group took the hard lessons of their first decade in service and began a process of rapid evolution. By the early 1980s, they had reached the strength of a full brigade, leveraging thousands of soldiers and breaking them into several more specialized subgroups.
Their parachutists were sent to focus on their chosen craft, preparing to drop into crisis zones and secure critical targets in the heat of battle. A special forces unit was organized in the mold of an asymmetric counterinsurgent group, while a designated counterterrorism unit—albeit a relatively small unit compared to the others—prepared and served on standby to counter threats like the ones Jordan had fought during Black September.
Royal Leadership and the 2017 Restructuring
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At the turn of the twenty-first century, Jordan’s long-ruling King Hussein died and was succeeded by his son, King Abdullah II. Alongside everything he has done as a ruling monarch, Abdullah II is a former Brigadier General who spent years in command of the Special Forces Group. During his time there, he rose to the rank of major general and led his special forces units in internal operations to hunt down criminals in Amman.
With his ascent to the throne, the resources and institutional backing at the Special Forces Group’s disposal were doubled and doubled again. Operating under a Joint Special Operations Command that Abdullah himself had created during his time as the group’s leader, the Special Forces Group grew far stronger than it ever had before. During Abdullah’s first decade and a half as King, the Special Forces Group was split into three main brigades, each stratified even further into specialized subgroups.
The Special Forces Brigade was optimized for unconventional warfare, traveling far afield with the capability to meet asymmetric threats at their own turf and tempo, while retaining ample ability to fight a conventional war against conventional units. Combat search and rescue capabilities, as well as a dedicated and significantly expanded counterterrorism team, fit under this banner. Then, there was the Rangers Brigade, similar in concept to the shock troops of the United States Army Rangers, who operate as high-level conventional warfighters acting as a force multiplier on the battlefield.
Finally, the Special Operations Aviation Brigade ensured that Jordanian special operators could respond rapidly to threats with intimidating aerial assets backing them up. At their peak, there were some seven thousand individuals listed as part of Jordanian Special Operations, not including administrative support structures. This period of intense growth and specialization was a turning point, elevating the operators’ understanding of their fields and building a well-deserved reputation as formidable warfighters.
However, a force of this kind was difficult to sustain and pay for. In 2017, the Jordanian Armed Forces went through a series of reforms that hit its special operators hard. The military deactivated the Joint Special Operations Command headquarters, sent its Ranger element and Aviation Brigade to other corners of the military, and removed much of the administrative infrastructure.
Yet, far from being the death of the organization, this restructuring was a rebirth. The Aviation Brigade remained on call as part of the Air Force, and the Rangers transitioned to the Mohamed bin Zayed Quick Reaction Force. After that restructuring, the core of the Special Forces Group was built of two primary units.
The 101st Battalion, also known as Special Unit I, handles direct action, counterinsurgency, sabotage, reconnaissance, and asymmetric operations. The 71st Battalion, or Special Unit II, focuses exclusively on counterterrorism. Today, the Special Forces Group is about one thousand operators strong, accounting for one of every eighty-six active-duty members of the Royal Jordanian Army.
Rigorous Recruitment and the Commando Course
For a young Jordanian soldier, securing a role within the Special Forces Group is among the highest honors one could possibly achieve. Consequently, the process to get there is exceptionally difficult. From the moment they choose to begin the selection process, Jordanian special forces recruits are put through rigorous testing to ensure they are of the highest caliber.
Candidates must be Jordanian citizens between the ages of eighteen and twenty-seven. To qualify, they must pass a battery of psychological tests and meet a fairly typical but highly rigorous physical standard. This includes a five-kilometer run in under twenty-three minutes, at least sixty push-ups and sixty sit-ups in separate two-minute spans, a minimum of ten pull-ups, and the successful completion of a challenging obstacle course.
Psychologically, candidates are expected to demonstrate not just compatible personality traits, but clear leadership qualities. Candidates who pass muster enter a month-long qualifying phase that operates as an intense endurance challenge. Much like special operator candidates across the world, Jordanian candidates are put through a process meant to push both their bodies and their minds past their absolute limits.
This is an effort to learn by force which candidates are able to overcome the fear, exhaustion, dread, and panic that inevitably accompanies an untrained person through high-stress environments. Assuming a candidate does not wash out during the endurance phase, they move into the bulk of what is called the Commando Course. During the Commando Course, trainees are put through all manner of combat-oriented training, ranging from small-unit operations to the use of small arms and explosives, alongside the principles and practice of hand-to-hand combat.
Trainees are taught to survive on their own in hostile and austere environments, especially the harsh desert conditions of Jordan and the wider Middle East, and they are trained to evade capture by enemy forces. They are taught the basics of land navigation, diving, and amphibious operations. By the end of the Commando Course, the goal is for these trainees to be highly competent if dropped into any number of combat situations, possessing an interchangeable skill set that ensures they have what it takes to meet any given moment.
Additionally, operators undergo a four-week parachute course to ensure basic airborne competency. From there, individual commandoes can specialize in a wide range of offered disciplines. The Jordanian military publicly indicates that commandoes can take intensive courses on explosives handling, the preparation of booby traps, rapid infiltration of hostile targets by helicopter or aircraft, urban warfare, homeland security, and advanced paratrooper techniques.
A somewhat unusual element of the Special Forces Group’s training is its emphasis on non-firearm personal combat. Commandoes can spend up to twenty-four weeks learning either taekwondo or the submission-grappling art of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, each with substantial modifications to reflect the gritty realities of life-or-death combat. Commandoes can also learn a martial art called Sijal, similar to the Israeli self-defense style of Krav Maga, which emphasizes the use of sticks, batons, edged melee weapons, and targeted attacks toward vulnerable points on the human body.
Courses in advanced marksmanship and strategic reconnaissance are also readily available.
Advanced Simulation at the Special Operations Training Center
Just as important as the process of training a Jordanian member of the Special Forces Group is the significance of military training more broadly within the world of Jordanian special operations. Across the globe, Jordan is known for its emphasis on advanced training practices for both its own operators and the operators of other allied nations. All of this takes place in and around the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center.
Located near the Jordanian capital city of Amman, this massive facility is equipped with all manner of highly specialized physical training environments. The Special Operations Training Center features several simulation areas that mimic urban and village settings. This includes everything from a built-up area representing government buildings and embassies to apartment complexes, industrial areas, smaller towns with single-family homes, and remote villages mirroring those found dotting the Middle East.
The center even boasts a full-scale model of an Airbus A300 commercial jet, fitted out with such detailed and realistic features that instructors can even control the smells in the air to induce psychological stress. Furthermore, the center houses a specialized armored facility where trainees can practice room-to-room live-fire exercises, alongside another building designed specifically for the practice of tactical breaching in all sorts of environments. The facility has the capabilities to craft custom models of targets that precisely mirror real-life conditions.
All the while, the Special Operations Training Center remains renowned for its technological integration. The site features a total of 350 cameras, all meant to capture footage of complicated training exercises so they can be reviewed later in after-action reports. The shooting ranges feature a number of advanced modes that mimic complicated real-life scenarios, as well as the capacity to host the testing of advanced or unconventional weapons.
The Falcon4 Simulation Center of Excellence, developed jointly with an American company, has the capacity to host all sorts of training operations, including live-fire drills that take advantage of robotic targets. Ultimately, the training center serves as a rare hub for special-operations theory, providing a dedicated space where the higher principles and philosophies of special operations work can be fully fleshed out. Quite frankly, there is no other place in the world quite like it.
Counterterrorism Operations and Global Competitions
As one would expect from an elite special-operations unit, the Special Forces Group does not tend to divulge much about its operations. Unlike some organizations around the world known for having prolific or verbose former operators, former members of the Special Forces Group do not tend to publicize their exploits. Very little is known about what the versatile, direct-action-oriented 101st Battalion has engaged in over the last several decades.
It is highly possible that they have conducted significant work over the last few years, ranging from potential operations against the Islamic State to a possible role in Syria or Yemen, or even a hidden-hand influence in the periphery of Israel’s recent conflicts across the Middle East. What is known, however, is that unlike many global special operators, a significant portion of the 101st Battalion’s work seems to take place on home soil. Partly owing to the realities of Jordan’s frontier lands bordering unstable nations, and partly as a result of the state’s willingness to go the extra mile in the name of internal security, the Special Forces Group is thought to be an active stabilizing influence across its own nation in times of crisis.
A good deal less vague than the work of the 101st is the role of the 71st Special Battalion, the portion of the Special Forces Group that focuses on counterterrorism operations. Because the adversaries they fight and the conditions they operate under are typically far more visible to the global public, several of their most impressive exploits are well-documented. Back in 2005, after a series of deadly bombings in the city of Amman, the Special Forces Group served as the on-the-ground personnel acting on Jordanian intelligence to hunt down the perpetrators.
They ultimately captured a man known as Ziad Khalaf al-Karbouly, who had been one of the primary architects of the attacks. In 2016, the 71st Battalion fought intense battles in the streets of Irbid, a northern city of about two million people, beating back militants who had planned to launch a large-scale terror plot on behalf of the Islamic State. That same year, they deployed to Jordan’s historic Kerak Castle, flushing out and ultimately dispatching five Islamic State attackers who had launched an assault on the location, killing twelve civilians and security officers.
Two members of the 71st Battalion were killed in that fierce close-quarters fighting. Perhaps more important than their tactical response to any specific incident is the overarching reality that under the Special Forces Group’s protection, Jordan has gained a reputation as an exceptionally safe area relative to the rest of the volatile Middle East. While battlefield performance is the most important metric by which Jordan’s special operators are judged, it is not the only one.
The Jordanian government leverages the Special Operations Training Center to host the Annual Warrior Competition, a prestigious event that brings together elite tactical teams from across the globe. At the Warrior Competition, national and private teams of special operators take part in a unique series of challenges and games meant to test their competence in their shared craft. Every year, the Jordanian Special Forces Group takes part, alongside other Jordanian teams from the General Intelligence Department and the King’s Royal Guard.
In recent Games, the Jordanian Special Forces Group beat out a combined team of United States special operators, regularly proving themselves to be of a caliber alongside the world’s very best. In the years to come, the Special Forces Group will have their work cut out for them, ensuring their nation’s safety at the heart of the Middle East during a time of profound change. They operate with the strong backing of King Abdullah II—a leader who still visits the Training Center to hit bull’s-eyes with his pistol—and the enduring gratitude of a nation that rightly credits its continued security to its special operators.
Simon Whistler
Simon Whistler is one of YouTube's most prolific educational creators. WarFronts is his deep dive into military history and conflict analysis.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the two main units of Jordan’s Special Forces Group today?
Following a 2017 restructuring, the Special Forces Group was rebuilt around two primary battalions. The 101st Battalion, also known as Special Unit I, handles direct action, counterinsurgency, sabotage, reconnaissance, and asymmetric operations. The 71st Battalion, or Special Unit II, focuses exclusively on counterterrorism. Together they comprise roughly one thousand operators — one for every eighty-six active-duty members of the Royal Jordanian Army.
What role did the Special Forces Group play during the Black September conflict?
During the 1970 Jordanian Civil War, known as Black September, the Special Forces Group fought on the side of King Hussein against PLO fedayeen fighters under Yasser Arafat. Palestinian forces had seized nearly seventy foreign nationals as hostages in Amman and demanded that the Special Forces Group disband as a condition of their release. The group survived, participated in fierce urban combat across the capital, and helped repel a Syrian advance into Jordanian territory.
How demanding is the selection and training process for Jordanian special operators?
Candidates must be Jordanian citizens between eighteen and twenty-seven years old and must pass psychological tests and rigorous physical standards including a sub-23-minute five-kilometer run, sixty push-ups and sit-ups, and ten pull-ups. Those who qualify enter a month-long endurance phase designed to push recruits past their physical and mental limits. Survivors move into the Commando Course, covering small-unit tactics, explosives, desert survival, amphibious operations, land navigation, and hand-to-hand combat, followed by a four-week parachute course and optional specializations including up to twenty-four weeks of taekwondo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, or the Sijal close-combat system.
What makes the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center unique?
Located near Amman, the center includes simulated urban environments ranging from government buildings and embassies to apartment complexes, industrial areas, and remote villages. It features a full-scale Airbus A300 commercial jet with controllable environmental conditions including scent, an armored live-fire facility, tactical breaching ranges, and 350 cameras for after-action review. The Falcon4 Simulation Center, developed with an American company, hosts live-fire drills with robotic targets. No comparable facility exists anywhere else in the world.
What counterterrorism operations has the 71st Battalion conducted?
The 71st Battalion’s best-documented operations occurred in 2016. In Irbid, a northern city of roughly two million people, they fought intense street battles against Islamic State militants who had been planning a large-scale terror attack. Later that same year they deployed to the historic Kerak Castle, where five Islamic State attackers had launched an assault that killed twelve civilians and security officers. The 71st Battalion neutralized all five attackers, though two of its own members were killed in the close-quarters fighting.
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