AMMAN: Jordan’s King Abdullah participated in an air drop of humanitarian aid to Gaza, Jordanian broadcaster Al-Mamlaka said on Sunday.
A video showed the monarch in military gear on board a plane in the latest mission by the Jordanian air force to drop urgent medical supplies to field hospitals it runs in the war-torn enclave. According to official media, the latest airdrop was on Feb. 6.
The kingdom, which has been among Arab neighbors pushing Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, is the only country that airdrops aid to the enclave, channelling it through these two medical facilities.
It has conducted 11 air drops, with at least two conducted with the French and Dutch airforces, to deliver medical aid.
The king, who has been vocal in calling for an end to Israel’s campaign, left on Thursday on a tour of major Western capitals and is due to meet US President Joe Biden in Washington on Feb 12. to lobby for an immediate ceasefire.
Jordan succeeded in getting Israel to allow the World Food Programme (WFP) to send deliveries to Gaza through another land route that begins from Jordan, helping ease pressure on the main Rafah border crossing which is limited in capacity.
Jordan, which shares a border with the West Bank, fears that the Gaza conflict could spread, with wider violence by armed settlers encouraged by the army triggering a large-scale Palestinian exodus to the other side of the Jordan River.
Jordan’s King Abdullah participates in Gaza aid airdrop
https://arab.news/6snq9
Jordan’s King Abdullah participates in Gaza aid airdrop
- A video showed the monarch on board a plane in the latest mission by the Jordanian air force to drop urgent medical supplies to field hospitals it runs in Gaza
Syria welcomes lifting of US sanctions
- A foreign ministry statement in Damascus “welcomed” the step
- It urged “all Syrians in the country and abroad to contribute in national recovery efforts“
DAMASCUS: Syria’s foreign ministry on Friday welcomed the permanent ending by the United States of the so-called Caesar sanctions, paving the way for the return of investment to the war-ravaged nation.
The US Congress on Wednesday permanently ended the sanctions imposed on Syria under Bashar Assad, who was ousted in December last year.
The Caesar Act, named after an anonymous photographer who documented atrocities in Assad’s prisons, severely restricted investment and cut off Syria from the international banking system.
A foreign ministry statement in Damascus “welcomed” the step, calling it “an entrance to the phase of reconstruction and development.” It urged “all Syrians in the country and abroad to contribute in national recovery efforts.”
US President Donald Trump had already twice suspended the implementation of sanctions against Syria in response to pleas from Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, allies of the new government headed by former jihadist Ahmed Al-Sharaa.
But Sharaa had sought a permanent end to the sanctions, fearing that as long as the measures remained on the books they would deter businesses wary of legal risks in the United States, the world’s largest economy.
