AMMAN: Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has condemned the ongoing Israeli military incursions into Palestinian towns, including Tuesday’s dawn attacks in Nablus and Ramallah.
Jordan News Agency, or Petra, cited a statement in which the ministry warned that the military escalation would lead to a new spiral of violence for which “everyone will pay a price.”
The ministry said that the Israeli raids into Palestinian cities and measures to perpetuate the occupation amid a persistent stalemate in the peace process would lead to a dangerous escalation, for which Israel would be responsible, threatening regional peace and stability, Petra reported.
The ministry also stressed it was necessary for Israel to halt all military operations against Palestinians and all illegal measures that undermine the two-state solution and chances for peace.
It called for the international community to provide protection for the Palestinian people and launch a real effort to achieve a just peace that ends the occupation and establishes an independent Palestinian state, with occupied Jerusalem as its capital on the lines of June 4, 1967, which coexists alongside Israel on the basis of the two-state solution, the Arab Peace Initiative and other relevant international legitimacy resolutions.
Jordan condemns ongoing Israeli raids of Palestinian towns
https://arab.news/yyafr
Jordan condemns ongoing Israeli raids of Palestinian towns
- Foreign affairs ministry warned that military escalation would lead to new spiral of violence
Hundreds mourn in Syria’s Homs after deadly mosque bombing
- Officials have said the preliminary investigations indicate explosive devices were planted inside the mosque but have not yet publicly identified a suspect
HOMS: Hundreds of mourners gathered Saturday despite rain and cold outside of a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs where a bombing the day before killed eight people and wounded 18.
The crowd gathered next to the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi Al-Dhahab neighborhood, where the population is predominantly from the Alawite minority, before driving in convoys to bury the victims.
Officials have said the preliminary investigations indicate explosive devices were planted inside the mosque but have not yet publicly identified a suspect.
A little-known group calling itself Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on its Telegram channel, in which it indicated that the attack intended to target members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam whom hard-line Islamists consider to be apostates.
The same group had previously claimed a suicide attack in June in which a gunman opened fire and then detonated an explosive vest inside a Greek Orthodox church in Dweil’a, on the outskirts of Damascus, killing 25 people as worshippers prayed on a Sunday.
A neighbor of the mosque, who asked to be identified only by the honorific Abu Ahmad (“father of Ahmad“) out of security concerns, said he was at home when he heard the sound of a “very very strong explosion.”
He and other neighbors went to the mosque and saw terrified people running out of it, he said. They entered and began trying to help the wounded, amid blood and scattered body parts on the floor.
While the neighborhood is primarily Alawite, he said the mosque had always been open to members of all sects to pray.
“It’s the house of God,” he said. “The mosque’s door is open to everyone. No one ever asked questions. Whoever wants to enter can enter.”
Mourners were unable to enter the mosque to pray Saturday because the crime scene remained cordoned off, so they prayed outside.
Some then marched through the streets chanting “Ya Ali,” in reference to the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law whom Shiite Muslims consider to be his rightful successor.
