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Jordan’s Public Institutions on Alert against Protests

Protesters raise their hands before members of the Gendarmerie and security forces during a demonstration outside the prime minister's office in Amman early Sunday (AFP photo by Khalil Mazraawi)
Protesters raise their hands before members of the Gendarmerie and security forces during a demonstration outside the prime minister's office in Amman early Sunday (AFP photo by Khalil Mazraawi)
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Jordan’s Public Institutions on Alert against Protests

Protesters raise their hands before members of the Gendarmerie and security forces during a demonstration outside the prime minister's office in Amman early Sunday (AFP photo by Khalil Mazraawi)
Protesters raise their hands before members of the Gendarmerie and security forces during a demonstration outside the prime minister's office in Amman early Sunday (AFP photo by Khalil Mazraawi)

Jordanian public institutions have gone on alert to contain mounting protests that kicked off four days ago over a new income tax draft-law and price hikes, as unions called for a general strike across the country next Wednesday.

King Abdullah II asked to meet with Prime Minister Hani Mulki at his office Monday to discuss the protests in Amman and other governorates.

After a meeting on Sunday, the Jordanian Senate sent to the King two suggestions on the matter: Ask the government to withdraw the draft, and to issue a royal decree for holding a special session of the Parliament on Monday during which deputies will re-send the bill to the Senate.

Senate Speaker Faisal al-Fayez called for a “comprehensive national dialogue” on the law.

He emphasized the importance of adopting the principle of collective participation of the Jordanian society within a national dialogue aimed at agreeing on a modern law that promotes the principles of transparency and equality.

The House members are expected to reject the amended income tax draft-law and forward it to the Senate, which would return the bill to the government as stipulated by the Constitution.

Sources predicted that the government would resign in the coming days.

Last month, the government proposed the law that is aimed at raising taxes on employees by at least five percent and on companies by 20 to 40 percent.

“The legislature made a recommendation to His Majesty King Abdullah to convene the Parliament for an extraordinary session to be held as soon as possible to bring an end to the income tax crisis,” Jordanian news agency Petra quoted Speaker of the House of Representatives Atef Tarawneh as saying following a meeting with Mulki and the Professional Associations Council at the Lower House.

Tarawneh said: "We are forming a committee to follow up the dialogue, which we hope will be positive and fruitful.”

Parliament is not bound by the decision of the International Monetary Fund but committed to the interest of the Jordanian people, he added.

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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb

An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has said previous strikes on Lebanese troops were accidental and that they are not a target of its campaign against Hezbollah.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.

The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Hezbollah has continued to fire regular barrages into Israel, forcing people to race for shelters and occasionally killing or wounding them.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets into northern and central Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating two people in the central city of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. The first responders said they also treated two women in their 50s who were wounded in northern Israel.

It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or interceptors.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.