Israel to ‘Gradually’ Reopen Jordan Embassy

Policemen are seen near the Israeli embassy in Amman, Jordan July 23, 2017. (Reuters)
Policemen are seen near the Israeli embassy in Amman, Jordan July 23, 2017. (Reuters)
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Israel to ‘Gradually’ Reopen Jordan Embassy

Policemen are seen near the Israeli embassy in Amman, Jordan July 23, 2017. (Reuters)
Policemen are seen near the Israeli embassy in Amman, Jordan July 23, 2017. (Reuters)

Israel announced on Tuesday that it was “gradually” reopening its embassy in Jordan following a shut down that was prompted by a deadly shooting in its vicinity last year.

The embassy in Amman is in the process of "gradual reopening," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said, without providing further details.

On July 23, a security guard for the Israeli embassy shot dead a Jordanian worker who had stabbed him in the back with a screwdriver after coming to an apartment to install furniture, according to the Israeli foreign ministry.

A second Jordanian, the apartment landlord, was also killed -- apparently by accident.

The guard, who claimed self-defense, was briefly questioned by investigators in Jordan before returning to Israel along with the rest of the embassy staff.

He received a hero's welcome from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu along with ambassador Einat Shlein, sparking widespread anger in Jordan.

Amman later said it would not allow the embassy staff to return until Israel opened a serious investigation and offered an apology.

Israel's justice ministry said in August it was launching a police "examination" into the incident.

On January 18, Jordan said Israel had apologized for the killing of the two Jordanians as well as the killing of a Jordanian judge by an Israeli soldier at the countries' border in 2014, and agreed to compensate all three families.

A Jordanian spokesman had said that the bereaved families accepted the apology and compensation, and that Israel had met all the conditions to reopening the embassy.

Netanyahu said Israel had "expressed regret" over the July shooting and agreed to pay compensation to the Jordanian government, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.



Syrian Authorities Announce Closure of Notorious Desert Camp

 A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
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Syrian Authorities Announce Closure of Notorious Desert Camp

 A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)

A notorious desert refugee camp in Syria has closed after the last remaining families returned to their areas of origin, Syrian authorities said on Saturday.

The Rukban camp in Syria's desert was established in 2014, at the height of Syria's civil war, in a de-confliction zone controlled by the US-led coalition fighting the ISIS group, near the borders with Jordan and Iraq.

Desperate people fleeing ISIS extremists and former government bombardment sought refuge there, hoping to cross into Jordan.

Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government rarely allowed aid to enter the camp and neighboring countries closed their borders to the area, isolating Rukban for years.

After an opposition offensive toppled Assad in December, families started leaving the camp to return home.

The Syrian Emergency Task Force, a US-based organization, said on Friday that the camp was "officially closed and empty, all families and residents have returned to their homes".

Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said on X on Saturday that "with the dismantlement of the Rukban camp and the return of the displaced, a tragic and sorrowful chapter of displacement stories created by the bygone regime's war machine comes to a close".

"Rukban was not just a camp, it was the triangle of death that bore witness to the cruelty of siege and starvation, where the regime left people to face their painful fate in the barren desert," he added.

At its peak, the camp housed more than 100,000 people. Around 8,000 people still lived there before Assad's fall, residing in mud-brick houses, with food and basic supplies smuggled in at high prices.

Syrian minister for emergency situations and disasters Raed al-Saleh said on X said the camp's closure represents "the end of one of the harshest humanitarian tragedies faced by our displaced people".

"We hope this step marks the beginning of a path that ends the suffering of the remaining camps and returns their residents to their homes with dignity and safety," he added.

According to the International Organization for Migration, 1.87 million Syrians have returned to their places of origin since Assad's fall, after they were displaced within the country or abroad.

The IOM says the "lack of economic opportunities and essential services pose the greatest challenge" for those returning home.