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Abdullah II to Araghchi: Jordan Will Not be Battleground for Regional Conflicts

Jordanian King Abdullah II on Wednesday welcomes Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Amman (Petra)
Jordanian King Abdullah II on Wednesday welcomes Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Amman (Petra)
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Abdullah II to Araghchi: Jordan Will Not be Battleground for Regional Conflicts

Jordanian King Abdullah II on Wednesday welcomes Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Amman (Petra)
Jordanian King Abdullah II on Wednesday welcomes Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Amman (Petra)

Jordanian King Abdullah II on Wednesday affirmed during his meeting in Amman with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi that his country will not be a battleground for regional conflicts, while also stressing the need for regional de-escalation.
Also at the meeting, attended by Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, the King warned that the continued killing and destruction will keep the region hostage to violence and the expansion of conflict.
He affirmed the need to stop the Israeli war on Gaza and Lebanon as a first step towards comprehensive calm.
King Abdullah II then expressed Jordan's keenness to exert all efforts with partner states to restore stability in the region and create a political horizon for the Palestinian issue.
He highlighted the importance of boosting the humanitarian response in Gaza, as well as ensuring the continued flow of aid in order to mitigate the humanitarian catastrophe.
Jordan Will Respond to Any Violations
At every diplomatic meeting, Jordanian politicians reaffirm these positions, saying that Jordan will not be a battleground for regional conflicts. They expressed the same positions to the Iranian Foreign Minister.
Jordan is keen to remain completely neutral facing the Israeli-Iranian escalation. It refuses any violation of its sovereignty and airspace or threats to the security of its citizens.
Amman had already informed Iran and Israel that it will “shoot down any target” in its airspace in case the confrontation escalates between the two nations.
Meanwhile, analysts are incapable of understanding the controversial position of Tehran. While Iran has engaged in diplomatic talks in the region to de-escalate the conflict, it continues to support the war on several fronts amid risks of engaging in it.
Araghchi’s visit to Amman on Wednesday was preceded by a closed-door meeting between the Jordanian monarch and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last month. But details of their talks were not disclosed.
Amman, Tehran: Good Relations
Last April, Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi made a rare and surprising visit to Iran just days following the assassination of Hamas’ chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran with a plea for an end to the escalation of violence and for the region to be able to live in “peace, security and stability.”
During the visit, which sought to improve their relations, the Jordanian minister said that King Abdullah II “tasked me to accept the invitation to Tehran, so that we can engage into a clear and frank brotherly conversation about overcoming the differences between the two countries.”
Safadi’s visit to Tehran was also addressed to Israel, as it sent a clarification that Jordan “has several political options to defend its sovereignty, including to open communication channels with Tehran and relevant sides in the region,” sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Tehran’s Missiles in Jordanian Airspace
Israel lacks a geographical depth to respond to Iran’s firing of ballistic missiles at Israel. Therefore, Israel’s anti-missile system could lead to the crashing of missiles in a populated area in the Jordanian territory.
The Royal Jordanian Air Force and air defense systems have responded to a number of missiles and drones that entered Jordanian airspace by pushing them to an unpopulated area in the desert.
On April 13 and Oct. 1 Iran fired missiles at Israel, the Jordanian government responded, saying it will not allow the country to become a battleground.⁠
Two weeks ago, government spokesperson Mohammad Momani told local media that protecting Jordan and Jordanians is the cabinet’s first responsibility.
He said “Jordan's position is clear and permanent that it will not be an arena for conflict for any party.”

 

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Arab World

EU to Discuss Normalization of Relations with Syria

Syrian refugees arrive from Lebanon at the Jdeidet Yabous crossing in southwestern Syria (File/AFP)
Syrian refugees arrive from Lebanon at the Jdeidet Yabous crossing in southwestern Syria (File/AFP)
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EU to Discuss Normalization of Relations with Syria

Syrian refugees arrive from Lebanon at the Jdeidet Yabous crossing in southwestern Syria (File/AFP)
Syrian refugees arrive from Lebanon at the Jdeidet Yabous crossing in southwestern Syria (File/AFP)

Some European Union countries are pushing to normalize ties with Syria in order to facilitate the deportation of Syrian migrants as mainstream leaders look to replicate anti-immigrant far-right parties’ surging popularity across the Continent, according to a report by POLITICO.

The report noted that these efforts are led by Italy, whose Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Tuesday to the Italian Senate ahead of the EU leaders’ meeting, “It is necessary to review the European Union Strategy for Syria and to work with all actors, to create the conditions for Syrian refugees to return to their homeland in a voluntary, safe and sustainable way.”

After President Bashar Assad’s violent crackdown on protesters in 2011 spiraled into a bloody civil war, his government was accused of using chemical weapons on its own people and was accused of torture, the report said.

The EU cut off diplomatic ties with the country in 2011. The regime survived and its operations continued in major part due to the military support of Russia and Iran.

The civil war has since ground to a standstill and the Syrian president has faced near-total global isolation.

Two EU diplomats told POLITICO that Meloni plans to raise the relationship with Damascus during a meeting of the 27 EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday.

Those calls from one of the EU’s largest countries come on top of a concerted push by a group of others, some of which have hard-right or far-right parties in government (or supporting government), such as Austria and Hungary.

The push to normalize relations with war-torn Syria and its president comes after a surge in support for anti-immigrant parties after the European election in June, namely France’s National Rally and Germany’s Alternative for Germany.

In recent weeks, POLITICO said that Poland’s prime minister has drawn a rebuke from the EU executive for saying that Warsaw would suspend asylum rights for migrants coming to Poland via Belarus.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has shut his country’s borders to EU neighbors following a knife attack allegedly involving a migrant and France’s newly appointed prime minister, Michel Barnier, has said EU rules on deportations should be revised to speed up expulsions.

One EU diplomat echoed Meloni, saying Israel’s ground operations after its invasion of Lebanon in early October added momentum to the push for deporting Syrian migrants.

Nearly 200,000 Syrians and Lebanese have fled to Syria since the start of October, according to the UN.

In Europe, more than 1 million Syrian refugees and asylum seekers have arrived in the past 10 years, according to 2021 data from the UN Refugee Agency.

The POLITICO report said Assad’s government, for its part, is eager to return to the embrace of its neighbors and other global leaders.

He has led a charm offensive for years, telling Syrians who fled it is now safe to return.

More recently, Syria has been bankrolling a campaign by Syrian and Western influencers to clean up his country’s image and jumpstart tourism, which has been largely dead for a decade.

But officials have not mapped out how such a shift to normalizing ties might happen. “There is no one who says: we will pick up the phone to call Assad,” said one EU official. “Nobody dares to raise that, but it is a hidden suggestion by some.”

In July, seven EU countries (Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Greece, Croatia and Cyprus) called on the EU’s foreign policy chief to review the EU’s strategy for Syria. The goal, they said, was to improve the humanitarian situation in Syria as well as help return migrants to certain regions of the country.

For others, it’s more complicated.

The Netherlands is not ready to back plans for restarting negotiations with Syria as it is not considered a safe country according to the Dutch domestic assessment, its Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp told POLITICO.

“The Dutch policy is that Syria is not secure to return asylum seekers. If that will happen in the future, [it] depends on the whole mechanism which is depoliticized [for] the Netherlands to decide to what extent Syria is secure, safe enough for the return of migrants,” he added.

The EU foreign policy chief’s response to the letter from seven EU countries was curt.

“How the Syrian regime has been operating for decades is well known and documented, including with the direct support of both Russia and Iran,” Josep Borrell wrote in a letter dated August 28 and obtained by POLITICO.

“That said, rest assured that the EU has always been ready to explore ways to better support the Syrian people and its legitimate aspirations.”

But some within the EU are adamant it is time to, at the very least, start a discussion, even if it is “too early to say whether we can succeed in anything,” one senior EU diplomat said.

“Assad is there, there is no whitewashing of him but Europe has taken in over 1.2 million Syrian citizens,” said Austria’s Alexander Schallenberg, federal minister for European and international affairs.

“Our proposal is an open-minded assessment: where do we stand, where should we go, because we are simply not achieving the results we would like to achieve.”