AMMAN: Jordan’s King Abdullah II will host Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday for talks on “dangerous developments” in war-torn Gaza, the royal palace said.
The meeting will be held in the Red Sea resort of Aqaba as part of “Jordan’s efforts to coordinate Arab positions to push for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and ensure the uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid,” a statement said.
Their talks would also focus on “the situation in the West Bank,” which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.
King Abdullah, in a meeting Sunday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, called on the United States to press Israel for an “immediate ceasefire” and to put an end to the humanitarian crisis brought by the Gaza war.
Aid organizations have warned of the dire situation in the Palestinian territory, where war erupted after Hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented October 7 attack that resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel has responded with relentless bombardment and a ground invasion of Gaza that have killed at least 23,210 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
On Sunday, King Abdullah had also warned Blinken against “the catastrophic repercussions of continuation of the aggression against Gaza, underlining the necessity of ending the tragic humanitarian crisis” there, the palace said.
In Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Blinken urged Israel to spare the lives of Palestinian civilians in the conflict.
The “daily toll on civilians in Gaza, particularly children, is far too high,” Blinken said.
He also called on Israel to “stop taking steps that undercut Palestinians’ ability to govern themselves effectively.”
Blinken is on a tour aimed at ending the possible spillover of the Israel-Hamas war into the region and preventing what he called an “endless cycle of violence.”
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Jordan king to host El-Sisi, Abbas for Gaza talks: palace
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Jordan king to host El-Sisi, Abbas for Gaza talks: palace
- The meeting will be as part of “Jordan’s efforts to coordinate Arab positions to push for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza”
Syria gunman who killed Americans was to be fired from security forces for ‘extremism’: ministry
DAMASCUS: Syria’s interior ministry said on Sunday that the gunman who killed three Americans in the central Palmyra region the previous day was a member of the security forces who was to have been fired for extremism.
Two US troops and a civilian interpreter died in the attack on Saturday, which the US Central Command said had been carried out by an alleged Daesh group (IS) militant who was then killed.
The Syrian authorities “had decided to fire him” from the security forces before the attack for holding “extremist Islamist ideas” and had planned to do so on Sunday, interior ministry spokesman Noureddine Al-Baba told state television.
A Syrian security official told AFP on Sunday that “11 members of the general security forces were arrested and brought in for questioning after the attack.”
The official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the gunman had belonged to the security forces “for more than 10 months and was posted to several cities before being transferred to Palmyra.”
Palmyra, home to UNESCO-listed ancient ruins, was once controlled by IS during the height of its territorial expansion in Syria.
The incident is the first of its kind reported since Islamist-led forces overthrew longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Assad in December last year, and rekindled the country’s ties with the United States.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the soldiers “were conducting a key leader engagement” in support of counter-terrorism operations when the attack occurred, while US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said the ambush targeted “a joint US-Syrian government patrol.”
US President Donald Trump called the incident “an Daesh attack against the US, and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,” using another term for the group.
He said the three other US troops injured in the attack were “doing well.”
Two US troops and a civilian interpreter died in the attack on Saturday, which the US Central Command said had been carried out by an alleged Daesh group (IS) militant who was then killed.
The Syrian authorities “had decided to fire him” from the security forces before the attack for holding “extremist Islamist ideas” and had planned to do so on Sunday, interior ministry spokesman Noureddine Al-Baba told state television.
A Syrian security official told AFP on Sunday that “11 members of the general security forces were arrested and brought in for questioning after the attack.”
The official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the gunman had belonged to the security forces “for more than 10 months and was posted to several cities before being transferred to Palmyra.”
Palmyra, home to UNESCO-listed ancient ruins, was once controlled by IS during the height of its territorial expansion in Syria.
The incident is the first of its kind reported since Islamist-led forces overthrew longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Assad in December last year, and rekindled the country’s ties with the United States.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the soldiers “were conducting a key leader engagement” in support of counter-terrorism operations when the attack occurred, while US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said the ambush targeted “a joint US-Syrian government patrol.”
US President Donald Trump called the incident “an Daesh attack against the US, and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,” using another term for the group.
He said the three other US troops injured in the attack were “doing well.”
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