Only Armenian school in Jordan about to close

July 22, 2018 By administrator

A decision has been taken to shut down the only Armenian school operating in Jordan, a move that can pose a serious threat to the local Armenian community’s existence, Maral Nersessian, one of the community members, said on Facebook.

She says their existence is already put at risk outside the community amid unprecedented mixed marriages and union-related issues, and now without the school serving as ‘the pillar of the community, it is set to face a reality marked by radical threats.’

Nersessian is alerting that the number of school students is falling year by year, with the major blow to the school being the migration of Syrian Armenians.

Jordan and Iraq re-open Karameh-Turabil border crossing

August 30, 2017 By administrator

The only border point for Iraq and Jordan had been closed since the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) group took control of the area in 2014. The hoped-for return of commercial traffic will be important for both economies.

At a re-opening ceremony at the border crossing on Wednesday, Jordanian Interior Minister Ghaleb Zohbi stood with his Iraqi counterpart, Qassem al-Araji, saying security had been restored three years after the IS group seized control of the frontier areas. An official statement from the two governments said the border point had been secured “against attacks by criminal gangs.”

“The opening of the crossing is of great importance to Jordan and Iraq,” Zohbi said earlier. “It’s a crucial artery. Jordan and Iraq have been discussing reopening it for a while.”

Iraq was once Jordan’s main export market, taking 20 percent of its domestic exports. Until 2014, Jordan was also the gateway for car exports to Iraq.

Securing the highway

The governor of Anbar province, Mohammed al-Halboosi, said trucks should be able to start crossing Thursday, and that Iraqi forces were protecting the road to Baghdad. He admitted an agreement with a private international security firm, Olive Group, on securing and upgrading the road was still to be completed.

Officials said customs and border arrangements have been agreed together with security measures for the 550 kilometers (342 miles) of highway to the Iraqi capital, reportedly with the US security company employing a local force, according to Reuters.

Regaining control

Known as Karameh in Jordan and Turabil in Iraq, it is the only border crossing on the 180-kilometer border between northeast Jordan and western Iraq.

Over the last year, the Iraqi army has regained control of most of the towns in the desert province of Anbar. IS fighters are still in control of the towns of Rawa, Aanah and Al-Qaim, more than 200 kilometers north of Karameh-Turabil.

Over the last three years, Jordan’s exports to Iraq have dropped by more than two-thirds from a pre-2014 level of $1.4 billion (1.17 billion euros) a year.

Efforts have also been made to secure Iraq’s Basra port in the south to Jordan. The Red Sea port of Aqaba is a gateway for Iraqi imports from Europe.

Jordan is also hopeful its northern border with Syria will re-open in the coming months.

jm/kms (Reuters, AP, AFP)

Two killed in shooting incident at Israeli embassy in Jordan

July 23, 2017 By administrator

At least two people have been killed in a shooting at the Israel embassy in Amman following anti-Israeli protests in the Jordanian capital.

According media reports, two Jordanians were killed and one Israeli seriously injured in the Sunday incident which occurred outside the Israeli embassy, located in the city’s Rabiyeh neighborhood.

The heavily-protected area around the embassy has been sealed off by the police while security forces have been deployed throughout the compound which has so far been evacuated.

Local police said that the two killed Jordanians were working for a furniture firm and had entered the complex before the shooting began, and that an investigation has been launched into the incident.

Jordan has been the scene of severe public outrage against Israel since July 14 when the Tel Aviv regime bolstered security measures at al-Aqsa Mosque.

On Friday, thousands of people took to the streets in Amman to protest against Israel’s installation of metal detectors at a site sacred which is also holy to Jews. The mosque is Islam’s third holiest site after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

The occupied Palestinian territories have witnessed new tensions ever since Israeli forces introduced restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015.

More than 300 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in the ongoing tensions since the beginning of October 2015.

The Tel Aviv regime has tried to change the demographic makeup of Jerusalem al-Quds over the past decades by constructing settlements, destroying historical sites and expelling the local Palestinian population. Palestinians say the Israeli measures are aimed at paving the way for the Judaization of the city.

Princess Dina Mired of Jordan visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial

April 30, 2017 By administrator

Princess Dina Mired of Jordan who is also the President of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) visited on Saturday Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex to pay tribute to memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide. Accompanied by the deputy head of the Genocide Museum-Institute Suren Manukyan, the Princess placed flowers near the eternal flame perpetuating the memory of the Genocide victims.

Afterwards, the Princess planted a fir tree at the Memory Park of the Memorial, toured the Genocide Museum-Institute and made an inscription in the Book of Honorary Guests of the Museum-Institute.

“As a non-political figure, as an advocate of the fight against cancer with a mission to save lives, by visiting the Genocide Museum, I remember the war brutalities, wherever they occur,” the Princess wrote, referring to the violence against the civilian population throughout the world where women and children are the primary victims.

To remind, the Princess of Jordan attended on Friday the demonstration of The Promise film narrating about the Armenian Genocide. The movie was created at the Survival Pictures of the legendary Kirk Kirkorian by the Oscar winner film director Terry George.

Jordan’s King Abdullah says Turkey is deliberately ‘unleashing’ Isis terrorists into Europe,

March 27, 2016 By administrator

The Jordanian monarch is angered by the EU’s newfound closeness with the autocratic Turkish regime Dan Kitwood/PA Wire/Press Association Images

‘The fact that terrorists are going to Europe is part of Turkish policy’

BY Matt Broomfield,

(independent.co.uk) Turkey is exporting Isis-linked terrorists to Europe, according to King Abdullah of Jordan.

The monarch’s remarks came in a meeting with members of the US Congress, in which he said that Islamist militants were being “manufactured in Turkey” and “unleashed” into Europe.

He also used the debriefing, held after a cancelled rendezvous with US President Barack Obama, to remind the US politicians of Turkey’s alleged complicity in buying Isis oil.

“The fact that terrorists are going to Europe is part of Turkish policy,” said King Abdullah. “Turkey keeps on getting a slap on the hand, but they are let off the hook.”

Arguing that the autocratic Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan believes in a “radical Islamic solution to the region”, King Abdullah said.

“Turkey sought a religious solution to Syria, while we are looking at moderate elements in the south and Jordan pushed for a third option that would not allow a religious option.”

The meeting was held on 11 January, but details of the King’s opinions have only just been leaked by Middle East Eye.

Although Turkey and Jordan are officially allies, the refugee crisis has heightened tensions between the two nations. King Abdullah is understood to have been angered by the EU’s generous offer of cash and diplomatic ties in return for Turkey limiting the onward flow of refugees into the continent.

At roughly 75 million, Turkey’s population is over ten times that of Jordan’s, meaning the Arab nation is hosting a proportionately greater number of refugees.

Speaking to politicians including John McCain and Paul Ryan, King Abdullah also claimed that Jordanian special forces with “some balls” were involved in covert operations in Syria.

Though the presence of Jordanian soldiers could not be confirmed, the nation has certainly been involved in training opposition fighters, espionage, providing weapons and ammunition and a limited number of air strikes.

But if their role in the conflict increases, they are likely to come into further friction with other key players in the region, particularly Turkey and Russia. In his debriefing with the American politicians, the Jordanian monarch described a tense stand-off between Turkish, Israeli and Russian war planes.

King Abdullah of Jordan reveals that Turkey is supporting terrorism

March 25, 2016 By administrator

King Abdullah speaks to military personnel at a joint training centre in Zarqa, north-east Jordan. Photograph: Khalil Mazraawi/AFP/Getty Images

(theguardian.com) He told those present: “The problem is bigger than Isil [Islamic State], this is a third world war, this is Christians, Jews working with Muslims against outlaws.”

The memo indicates that Abdullah also told US lawmakers:

• The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, “believes in a radical Islamic solution to the problems in the region” and the “fact that terrorists are going to Europe is part of Turkish policy, and Turkey keeps getting a slap on the hand, but they get off the hook”.

• Intelligence agencies want to keep terrorist websites “open so they can use them to track extremists” and Google had told the Jordanian monarch “they have 500 people working on this”.

• Israel “looks the other way” at the al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra on its border with Syria because “they regard them as an opposition to Hezbollah”.

The king raised particular concerns over al-Shabaab, the Islamist militant group in Somalia that has links with both Isis and al-Qaida.

“Jordan is looking at al-Shabaab because no one was really looking at the issue, and we cannot separate this issue, and the need to look at all the hotspots in the map,” he said, adding: “We have a rapid deployment force that will stand with the British and Kenya and is ready to go over the border [into Somalia].”

Three people, including two Americans, killed in Jordan shooting

November 9, 2015 By administrator

Soldiers watch tanks advancing as they take part in joint Jordan-US maneuvers in Mudawwara on May 18, 2015. (AFP photo)

Two American military instructors and one South African have been killed after a Jordanian officer opened fire at a US-funded training facility near the Jordanian capital, Amman, a government spokesman says.

Mohammed Momani said the incident took place on Monday at the Jordan International Police Training Center (JIPTC) in al-Mowager in east Amman.

He also said two other American instructors and four Jordanians were injured in the gun attack, adding that the assailant was shot dead by other officers at the scene.

The facility is said to be used to train Iraqi and Palestinian security forces. American contractors are reportedly sent to the center to help Jordanian instructors.

It is not immediately clear what prompted the attack.

Jordan is a key ally of the United States in the Middle East as well as an active part of the so-called US-led coalition against Daesh Takfiri terror group. The US is using Jordanian airfields to station fighter jets for its military campaign in Syria.

The United States and its allies have been conducting airstrikes against alleged Daesh extremists inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate since September last year.

Jordan also hosts hundreds of American military personnel as part of a program to allegedly reinforce the kingdom’s defense.

Libyan flights from Turkey, Jordan to make security stop in east

February 25, 2015 By administrator

CAIRO/BAYDA, Libya – Reuters

REUTERS Photo

Egypt is forcing Libyan airliners flying between Turkey and Jordan and the capital Tripoli to stop in eastern Libya to allow the country’s internationally recognized government to screen out potential Islamist fighters, officials said.

The move underscores Egypt’s engagement in Libya to bolster the weak official government, holed up in the east since it lost control of the capital, in its fight against Islamist militants exploiting the chaos that followed the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Egyptian jets bombed suspected Islamist militant targets in the eastern Libyan city of Derna last week after Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) released a video showing the execution of 21 Egyptian Copts.

Libya’s internationally recognized prime minister, Abdullah al-Thinni, accuses a rival government and parliament controlling Tripoli of having ties to radical Islamists, charges they deny.

Thinni is allied to Egypt.

ISIL militants have claimed attacks on foreign missions in Tripoli as well as a rocket strike on the eastern Labraq airport and a twin car suicide bombing in the eastern town of Qubbah, killing more than 40 people.

In a move to control air traffic to Libya, Egypt has said that flights in either direct between the Libyan cities of Tripoli and Misrata, and Turkey or Jordan, via Egyptian air space, must make a transit stop in eastern Libya, Libyan and Egyptian officials said.

Thinni told Reuters Egypt had closed its air space to planes serving western Libyan airports so that departure and passport procedures would be conducted by officials from his government in the east.

“The (air space) was closed for security reasons, to stop terrorists and weapons reaching Libya,” Thinni told Reuters in a written response to questions.

Flight route

An Egyptian aviation official confirmed the ban on flights serving Tripoli and Misrata, saying Cairo would only deal with airports held by the recognised government. The website of Tripoli’s Mitiga airport confirmed the changed flight route.

When Istanbul-bound planes operated by Libyan carriers touch down in Labraq or Tobruk, two small airports in the east, passengers must disembark for passport checks, witnesses said.

Libyan carriers flying to Turkey and Jordan must cross Egyptian airspace as they are banned from Greek or Greek Cypriot air space immediately to the north.

A Reuters reporter visiting Labraq airport saw officials checking identity cards of passengers arriving on Tripoli flights.

In an attempt to stop would-be fighters reaching war zones in Syria or Libya, Egypt has banned travel by Egyptians to Libya and requires young males travelling to Turkey to obtain a permit.

Cairo says it is to train Libyan forces loyal to Thinni and his government, which struggles to make an impact working out of hotels in the small eastern city of Bayda near Labraq airport.

Egypt, like most Arab and Western countries, has withdrawn its embassy staff from Tripoli but has set up a presence in Tobruk, where the elected House of Representatives is based.

The Tripoli government accuses army general Khalifa Haftar, allied to Thinni, of receiving military support from Egypt.

Haftar’s warplanes often attack forces loyal to Tripoli as part of his self-declared war against Islamists. Haftar denies receiving Egyptian support but analysts wonder how his outdated jets can fly almost daily missions.

There has been no official comment from the Tripoli government, but Egypt’s decision to force planes to land in the east is likely to widen divisions in Libya. Some Libyans living in the west have expressed reservations on social media at having to fly through the east.

Turkish and Jordanian airlines no longer fly to Libya.

Jordan jets ‘strike Islamic State’ after pilot’s death

February 5, 2015 By administrator

Jordan says its warplanes have carried out their first air strikes on Islamic State (IS) targets since the militants released a video showing the killing of a captured Jordanian pilot, the BBC reports.

On their way back, the planes flew over the village of pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh.

Their flight coincided with a visit to the village by Jordanian King Abdullah II, who was meeting the pilot’s family.

The king has vowed to the step up the fight against IS. Jordan is part of a US-led coalition bombing the militants.

Lt Kasasbeh was captured by the militants last year after his F-16 fighter jet crashed in Syria. IS this week released a video showing the pilot being burned alive in a cage, sparking outrage and calls for revenge in Jordan.

State television pictures on Thursday showed the king sitting sombre-faced with Saif al-Kasasbeh, the pilot’s father, at a gathering in Aya village, near the city of Karak, south of the capital Amman.

The king gestured to the skies as the warplanes flew overhead, the Associated Press news agency said.

Mr Kasasbeh told mourners that the aircraft were returning from a raid on Syria’s Raqqa, the de facto capital of the militants’ self-declared caliphate, which spans territory in Iraq and Syria.

While Jordan did not specify the location of the air strikes, a security official quoted by Reuters news agency said they had targeted IS in Syria.

“The response of Jordan and its army after what happened to our dear son will be severe,” the king said, after cutting short a trip to the US this week.

Jordan responded to the release of the gruesome video, which depicted the caged pilot engulfed in flames, by executing two convicts, including Sajida al-Rishawi, a failed female suicide bomber.

Jordan had earlier sought to secure the pilot’s release in a swap involving Rishawi.

However, it is now believed that IS had killed the pilot a month ago. The BBC’s Paul Adams in Amman says talk of an exchange appears to have been an IS tactic to string Jordan along and foster doubt among Jordanians over its role in the US-led coalition.

Jordan Executes Two Prisoners to Avenge ISIS Murder of Pilot

February 3, 2015 By administrator

Jordan executed two prisoners, including an Iraqi militant whom it had sought to trade with ISIS, on Wednesday morning to avenge the death of a Jordanian pilot who was purportedly shown being burned alive in an ISIS video, Jordanian state media and police sources said.

A police source told NBC News that the executions of Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman whom ISIS had demanded be released, and Zyad al-Karbouli, an Iraqi Islamist who also had previously been sentenced to death, took place only a few hours after Jordanian King Abdullah met in Washington with President Barack Obama.

Abdullah then immediately set flight back home, his government having promised swift revenge for the apparent death of Lt. Muath al Kasasbeh.

A 22-minute video released Tuesday by the al-Furqan Media Foundation — one of the official media arms of ISIS — showed Kasasbeh with a black eye at a table and, later, standing in a cage as he is burned alive. He had been captured while on a bombing run over Syria in December when he was forced to eject.

Until the video’s release, Jordan had been trying to negotiate a swap of al-Rishawi, who was jailed for an attempted suicide attack in Amman in 2005, for Kasasbeh.

Earlier Tuesday, Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said Obama and the U.S. “stand in solidarity with the government of Jordan and the Jordanian people.”