AMMAN: Around 900 Jordanians are currently fighting for ISIS and al-Qaeda inspired groups in Syria and Iraq but recruitment numbers have fallen sharply to their lowest ever levels, a senior Jordanian official told Reuters on Tuesday.

Those now fighting in Iraq and Syria had mostly left Jordan, a staunch U.S. ally which borders the two countries, in the early years of the conflict between 2013 and 2014 according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Numbers joining the ultra-hardline extremist groups had dropped in the last three years as an intelligence-led campaign helped Jordanian security forces nip plots in the bud and arrested radicalized youths who were planning to leave, he said.