Jordanian Armed Forces The Ajlun offensive, also known as the Battle of the Scrubland,[3] was a major military engagement between Jordan and the Palestine Liberation Organization during the Black September conflict in 1971.

At the urging of other Arab heads of state, Jordanian king Hussein bin Talal and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat signed a ceasefire agreement in Cairo, Egypt, on 27 September 1970.

A number of PLO commanders, most prominently Abu Ali Iyad, disagreed and instead decided to relocate to the rough countryside in northwestern Jordan to keep fighting.

[5] From December 1970, the Royal Jordanian Army began a "creeping offensive" to push the fedayeen out of their positions north and west of Amman as well as cut off their foreign supply.

[10] On the morning of 13 July, the Jordanian Armed Forces initiated a large-scale offensive against the 2,500 militants of the Ajlun stronghold with intensive artillery bombardment, reinforced by aerial attacks.

[1][8] As his forces were overrun, Abu Ali Iyad sent a man with a letter out of the Ajlun pocket to the PLO leadership; in the message, he bitterly condemned his superiors for abandoning the fight and declared that "we will die on our feet rather than kneel".

[8] The remnants of Abu Ali Iyad's force continued to hold him in high regard and vowed to avenge him; one of them murdered Wasfi Tal in November 1971.