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Amman, Jordan Under pressure from powerful allies in the region, Jordan is seizing on an ideological schism in its local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood as an opportunity to push for a more pro-regime movement.

This month Jordan transferred official recognition of the Brotherhood, which has operated in the kingdom for 70 years, to the liberal wing of the movement. In so doing, it deprived the traditional movement of its final legal foothold in the Arab world, furthering setbacks it suffered in Egypt and the Gulf Arab states.

Jordans move, which follows years of growing distrust of the organization, carries significant risks. The Muslim Brotherhood was the kingdoms largest opposition movement, but operated often as a loyal opposition, at times tempering more radical anti-regime political impulses.

By siding with the liberal wing, Jordan runs the risk of pushing thousands of conservative members of the Brotherhood into the arms of more radical jihadist organizations, including the self-described Islamic State that is still drawing throngs of fighters to its cause.

The new, watered-down Brotherhood, licensed on March 4, is headed by former senator Abdul Majid Thneibat and comprised of liberal Brotherhood officials with ties to the government, providing Jordan what many officials have desired in private a Brotherhood answerable to the regime that would not push for widespread reforms.

Liberals in the Jordan Brotherhood have long been at loggerheads with its conservative leadership over the groups strong ties to its Palestinian branch, Hamas, the selection process for leadership posts, and its refusal to take part in Jordans parliamentary elections in 2010 and 2013.

Tensions came to a head in March 2014, when conservatives expelled three leading liberal members for taking part in a reform movement, the so-called ZamZam Jordan Building Initiative. This sparked a series of reform summits where liberal members began planning their challenge to the leadership.

Observers say Jordanian authorities have encouraged the divisions, pushing liberal members to rebel against the conservatives, and finally providing it with the legal outlet to sever its ties with the international Brotherhood movement in March.

Despite their occasional differences, the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood has been at its heart a pro-monarchy movement since its founding in 1945. It has not once called for regime change and even defended the crown from a nationalist coup in 1957.

However, relations between the Brotherhood and the palace soured in the wake of the Arab Spring in 2011, when Brotherhood leaders eager to replicate the movements electoral success in Egypt and elsewhere pushed Jordans King Abdullah to surrender his constitutional powers to appoint governments and dissolve parliament.

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Opportunistic move against Muslim Brotherhood exposes Jordan to risks