AMMAN: Britain’s Prince Charles paid tribute Wednesday in Amman to the kinship between his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and Jordan’s late King Hussein, both veteran monarchs.
“I feel this friendship in the most personal of ways, as Jordan has always been a part of my life,” Charles said in a speech at the Jordan Museum.
“His Majesty King Hussein came to the throne in 1952, the same year as my dear mother, the queen,” he said.
“They would be of great mutual support to each other through the decades ahead.”
King Hussein died in 1999 as the world’s longest ruling executive head of state.
The visit to Jordan by the prince who is heir to the throne started a day after Queen Elizabeth, 95, missed an annual remembrance service for fallen soldiers in London on Sunday “having sprained her back.”
However, Elizabeth, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, on Wednesday made her first public appearance in almost a month, hosting a reception at Windsor Castle, west of London.
Prince Charles, accompanied by his wife Camilla met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Hussein’s son and successor, Tuesday at the start of a tour of Jordan and Egypt.
On Wednesday, they also visited the Greco-Roman archaeological site of Um Qais, north of Amman.
The couple are Thursday to travel on to Egypt, which is to host the next round of the UN climate summit in its Sharm el-Sheikh resort next year.
Prince Charles is the most senior royal who travels overseas, representing the Queen, who stopped overseas tours a few years back because of her age.
There has been a heavy focus on him in recent weeks amid the concerns over the monarch’s health.
UK’s Charles hails queen’s kinship with Jordan’s late king
https://arab.news/5dves
UK’s Charles hails queen’s kinship with Jordan’s late king
- Prince Charles and Camilla visited the Greco-Roman archaeological site of Um Qais, north of Amman
Strikes kill nine Iran-backed fighters near Iraq-Syria border: security officials
- Iraqi authorities denounced the “blatant attacks” on bases that belong to the Hashed Al-Shaabi
- Nine fighters were killed and another 10 wounded in the strikes
BAGHDAD: Air strikes killed at least nine Iran-backed fighters in Iraq on Thursday near the Iraqi-Syrian border, two senior security officials told AFP.
Iraqi authorities denounced the “blatant attacks” on bases that belong to the Hashed Al-Shaabi, a former paramilitary group now integrated into the regular army, which also encompasses brigades from Iran-backed armed groups.
Nine fighters were killed and another 10 wounded in the strikes that targeted a base housing the US-blacklisted Harakat Ansar Allah Al-Awfiya, two security officials said.
“The base was destroyed, and the rescue teams who arrived at the site were also targeted,” one of the officials said on condition of anonymity.
The base belongs to the Hashed Al-Shaabi or the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) whose positions have been repeatedly targeted in attacks blamed on the United States and Israel since the start of the war.
The PMF said nine of its members were killed in Thursday’s attack.
It accused the US of striking its sites, and said that these bases “had no role in targeting US bases in Iraq or elsewhere.”
The PMF added that “all fighters killed were carrying out their official duties, and some were stationed near the borders.”
And it called the Hashed Al-Shaabi an “essential part of Iraq’s security apparatus.”
Iraq has long been a proxy battleground between the United States and Iran, with the country’s successive governments struggling to balance relations between the two rivals.
It was immediately dragged into the Middle East war triggered when the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose alliance of several Iran-backed groups, have been claiming daily attacks against US bases in Iraq.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani denounced what he called “blatant attacks” on the PMF, whose members were “performing their sacred duty within the missions of our security forces.”
“This systematic and repeated aggression, and the targeting of sites and headquarters without distinction, is not merely a military violation. It represents a desperate attempt to create confusion” and weaken Iraq’s security.
