King Abdullah II of Jordan was not destined to succeed his father, King Hussein, the father of modern Jordan, but to a prestigious military career. It will be otherwise. January 24, 1999, thirteen days before his death, his eldest son Hussein refers to succeed him. Powered on the throne of the Hashemite Kingdom February 7, 1999, at the age of 37, Abdullah II has been known and recognized by the international community, always discreet but essential, and very respected voice in the Middle East.
Born in 1962, Abdullah II is the eldest son of King Hussein and Princess Muna al-Hussein, the British Antoinette Gardiner, married her second husband.
Trained from a young age on the benches of Anglo-Saxon schools, passed by the British Military Academy Sandhurst and Oxford, back to Jordan in 82, he was assigned to the 40th Armored Brigade. It then restarts the United States, where he attended courses in 1985 to command the Cavalry School at Fort Knox before, in particular, to its range in 1986 and 1987 in a unit of anti-tank helicopters.
On 10 June 1993 the prince marries Rania Al-Yassin, a Palestinian born in 1970 in Kuwait. Together they have four children. In 1993-1994, he rose through the ranks of the Special Forces Command, an elite unit of the Jordanian army, it will significantly modernize, and he still runs today.
A military career away January 24, 1999 when King Hussein finally designated as Crown Prince, returning to the constitution which stipulates that both parents must be the king Arabs and Muslims by birth. On 7 February 1999, he took the oath before the united chambers on the same day of the death of his father, and his half-brother refers Hamze, born in 1980 as Crown Prince.
Abdullah sees assured of the support of the army and the Bedouin tribes, the base of the Hashemite family. The Palestinian origin of his wife from a wealthy family from Tulkarem, is another plus in a country where the population of Palestinian origin prevails.
At the head of a constitutional monarchy in which it has full power, the new monarch will be a priority modernization of the economy and the Jordanian society. The economy will experience a real boom, with growth of up to 8% per year. Social reforms were carried out to the population with access to health care and education easier and the country can boast of being a country that is 90% literate.
But if the King of Jordan, with its political and economic choices, wants an example of moderation and modernity, his kingdom has since January 2011 a wave of political and social protest. Poorer and middle classes who suffer from the deteriorating economic conditions, demanding more social justice and a more effective fight against corruption. And facing the aspirations of Jordanians institutional change, constitutional reform was launched in September 2011 to extend the powers of the judiciary, strengthening the powers of parliament and create a constitutional court. The electoral law was amended in July 2012. Legislative elections were held January 23, 2013.
Internationally, the alliance with the US is the common thread of diplomacy led by King Abdullah II. The United States provides to Jordan a major military and economic aid. A free trade agreement was signed in 2001 (the first between Washington and an Arab country) and the United States is the third supplier and the first customer of the Jordan.
The king, whose country is the second Arab state after Egypt to sign a peace agreement with Israel in 1994, supports closely the process of Israeli-Palestinian peace, and regularly reminds the urgency of implementing a two-state solution on the basis of the Arab peace initiative.
But Jordan has experienced the full impact of the Syrian crisis. Besides the security threat due to the fighting across its northern border, the large flow of Syrian refugees (615,000 registered with UNHCR, over 1,300,000 according to the authorities including the Syrians already present in Jordan before the conflict) weighs the country's resources. The Zaatari camp near the Syrian border, count about 80,000 residents.
Naturally, the Hashemite monarchy is very concerned about the consequences of regional crises on its own stability. Member of the core group of the Friends of the Syrian people, Jordan has mobilized in favor of a political settlement of the Syrian conflict. Abdullah II supported the new Iraqi government with the hope that it will lead a political process involving all components of the Iraqi people. Jordan has joined the international coalition in its fight against the terrorist organization Daech. In this context, she participated in air strikes conducted against the terrorist organization in Syria.
