During the 1970–71 civil war that erupted in Jordan between Palestinian guerrilla groups and the Jordanian Army, the Palestinians managed to take control of some cities as Ramtha, Irbid, Jerash. In mid-1971, the PLO was defeated and exiled to Lebanon. This was seen as an attempt to take over all of Jordan as a first step to liberate the rest of "historical Palestine" as seen by PLO.