| Washington Post | - |
AMMAN, Jordan - Jordan's king warned Wednesday that a jihadi state could emerge on his northern border in Syria with Islamic extremists trying to establish a foothold in the neighboring country.
AP INTERVIEW: Jordan king warns Syria could become jihadist state, says ...
AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan’s king
warned Wednesday that a jihadi state could emerge on his northern border
in Syria with Islamic extremists trying to establish a foothold in the
neighboring country.
King Abdullah II, a key U.S.-ally, told The Associated Press in an interview that in his view, Syrian President Bashar Assad was beyond rehabilitation and it was only a matter of time before his authoritarian regime collapses. But he said he opposed foreign military intervention.
“The most worrying factors in the Syrian conflict are the
issues of chemical weapons, the steady flow or sudden surge in refugees
and a jihadist state emerging out of the conflict,” the king said.
He said it costs his cash-strapped nation $550 million annually to host an estimated 500,000 Syrian refugees — about nine percent of Jordan’s population of 6 million. He said most have crossed in the last 12 months.
The government says they have strained the country’s meager resources, including health care and education, and forced the budget deficit to a record high of $3 billion last year.
There is also concern that agents linked to Assad or his militant Lebanese ally Hezbollah has formed sleeper cells in Jordan to destabilize the country.
Nevertheless, Abdullah said he was against any foreign military intervention in Syria, including setting up a safe zone for the refugees inside the country.
“Jordan works within Arab consensus and international consensus and legalities. I am totally against sending Jordanian troops inside Syria and this has always been Jordanian policy. I am also against any foreign military intervention in Syria.”
Previously, Abdullah warned that Syria’s chemical weapons could fall into the hand of the militants, who are seeking to establish presence in Syria. From there, they could be used against Syria’s neighbors, including Jordan — a strong U.S. ally that signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.
He warned that radicalization of Syria, together with the deadlock in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, could ignite the entire region.
“Another extremely dangerous scenario is the fragmentation of Syria, which would trigger sectarian conflicts across the region for generations to come,” he said. “And also the huge risk that Syria could become a regional base for extremist and terrorist groups, which we are already seeing establishing firm footholds in some areas,” the king added.
“All these are extremely dangerous threats. I have been warning against them all, especially the chemical weapons threat, since the beginning of the crisis,” he said.
As for the humanitarian emergency, the king said assistance is direly needed not only to the host countries, like Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey but also inside Syria, so that “hearts and minds can be won before extremists fill the vacuum left by a failed Syrian state and mass exoduses are prevented.”
He said faced with all these threats, Jordan is working on “contingencies to protect our population and borders, in self-defense.” He declined to elaborate.
AP INTERVIEW: Jordan king warns Syria could become jihadi state, says Assad’s days numbered
(Yousef Allan, Jordanian Royal Palace/ Associated Press ) -
King Abdullah II of Jordan poses for the camera after an interview with
The Associated Press at the Royal Palace, in Amman, Jordan, Wednesday
March, 20, 2013. King Abdullah II said in a wide-ranging interview with
The Associated Press on Wednesday that in his view, President Bashar
Assad was beyond rehabilitation and it was only a matter of time before
his regime collapses. As President Barack Obama began a regional tour,
which includes stops in Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, Abdullah says
the visit is significant and opens a “window of opportunity” for
restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
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King Abdullah II, a key U.S.-ally, told The Associated Press in an interview that in his view, Syrian President Bashar Assad was beyond rehabilitation and it was only a matter of time before his authoritarian regime collapses. But he said he opposed foreign military intervention.
He said it costs his cash-strapped nation $550 million annually to host an estimated 500,000 Syrian refugees — about nine percent of Jordan’s population of 6 million. He said most have crossed in the last 12 months.
The government says they have strained the country’s meager resources, including health care and education, and forced the budget deficit to a record high of $3 billion last year.
There is also concern that agents linked to Assad or his militant Lebanese ally Hezbollah has formed sleeper cells in Jordan to destabilize the country.
Nevertheless, Abdullah said he was against any foreign military intervention in Syria, including setting up a safe zone for the refugees inside the country.
“Jordan works within Arab consensus and international consensus and legalities. I am totally against sending Jordanian troops inside Syria and this has always been Jordanian policy. I am also against any foreign military intervention in Syria.”
Previously, Abdullah warned that Syria’s chemical weapons could fall into the hand of the militants, who are seeking to establish presence in Syria. From there, they could be used against Syria’s neighbors, including Jordan — a strong U.S. ally that signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.
He warned that radicalization of Syria, together with the deadlock in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, could ignite the entire region.
“Another extremely dangerous scenario is the fragmentation of Syria, which would trigger sectarian conflicts across the region for generations to come,” he said. “And also the huge risk that Syria could become a regional base for extremist and terrorist groups, which we are already seeing establishing firm footholds in some areas,” the king added.
“All these are extremely dangerous threats. I have been warning against them all, especially the chemical weapons threat, since the beginning of the crisis,” he said.
As for the humanitarian emergency, the king said assistance is direly needed not only to the host countries, like Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey but also inside Syria, so that “hearts and minds can be won before extremists fill the vacuum left by a failed Syrian state and mass exoduses are prevented.”
He said faced with all these threats, Jordan is working on “contingencies to protect our population and borders, in self-defense.” He declined to elaborate.
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