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Relief in Jordan after Arabs Pledge Aid Package

Saudi King Salman hosts a summit in Makkah to tackle Jordan's economic crisis. (SPA)
Saudi King Salman hosts a summit in Makkah to tackle Jordan's economic crisis. (SPA)
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Relief in Jordan after Arabs Pledge Aid Package

Saudi King Salman hosts a summit in Makkah to tackle Jordan's economic crisis. (SPA)
Saudi King Salman hosts a summit in Makkah to tackle Jordan's economic crisis. (SPA)

Jordanian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ali al-Kayed stressed the importance of the aid package to support Jordan, which was pledged by Saudi Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz.

A Saudi-hosted summit held in the holy city of Makkah on Sunday pledged $2.5 billion in aid to help Jordan overcome its economic crisis. The meeting brought together Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

Kayed told Asharq Al-Awsat that the aid will revive Jordan's faltering economy.

The aid will be provided through a deposit at the Jordanian Central Bank, guarantees for the World Bank, annual support for the Jordanian government’s budget over the next five years and financing from development funds for projects in the Kingdom.

The diplomat said the effect of the aid package will have a direct impact on Jordan’s economy and ensure its perseverance and future prosperity.

Helping Jordan overcome its crisis and mitigate the aftermath of associated economic inflation, the aid will not only be beneficial in the near term only, but also have a long-term effect.

Saudi Shura Council member Ibrahim al-Nahhas told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the Kingdom, as usual, stands with its allies in times of crisis.”

“As the leader of the Arab world and center of the Islamic world, the Kingdom is establishing the principle of collective action.”

He stressed that the Saudi leadership constantly works in the interest of Arabs and Muslims everywhere and at any given time.

Nahhas said that the Makkah summit is a true expression of the joint spirit of brotherhood among Arab and Islamic countries. It gives a direct Saudi message to the whole world on the cooperation and solidarity of Arabs and Muslims during most difficult circumstances.

“Standing with Jordan and its people sends a strong message that calls upon Jordanians to side with their leadership and support it in confronting conspiracies aimed at destabilizing their country,” said Nahhas.

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Gaza's Christians 'Heartbroken' for Pope Who Phoned them Nightly

A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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Gaza's Christians 'Heartbroken' for Pope Who Phoned them Nightly

A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Members of Gaza's tiny Christian community said they were "heartbroken" on Monday at the death of Pope Francis, who campaigned for peace for the devastated enclave and spoke to them on the phone every evening throughout the war.

Across the wider Middle East, Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox, praised Francis' constant engagement with them as a source of solace at a time when their communities faced wars, disasters, hardship and persecution.

"We lost a saint who taught us every day how to be brave, how to keep patient and stay strong. We lost a man who fought every day in every direction to protect this small herd of his," George Antone, 44, head of the emergency committee at the Holy Family Church in Gaza, told Reuters.

Francis called the church hours after the war in Gaza began in October 2023, Antone said, the start of what the Vatican News Service would describe as a nightly routine throughout the war. He would make sure to speak not only to the priest but to everyone else in the room, Antone said.

"We are heartbroken because of the death of Pope Francis, but we know that he is leaving behind a church that cares for us and that knows us by name - every single one of us," Antone said, referring to the Christians of Gaza who number in the hundreds.

"He used to tell each one: I am with you, don't be afraid."

Francis phoned a final time on Saturday night, the pastor of the Holy Family parish, Rev. Gabriel Romanelli, told the Vatican News Service.

"He said he was praying for us, he blessed us, and he thanked us for our prayers," Romanelli said.

The next day, in his last public statement on Easter, Francis appealed for peace in Gaza, telling the warring parties to "call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace".

'PEACE IN THIS LAND'

At the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, on the site where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected, the superior of the Latin community, Father Stephane Milovitch, said Francis had stood for peace.

"We wish that peace will finally come very soon in this land and we wish the next pope will be able to help to have peace in Jerusalem and in all the world," he said.

In Lebanon, where a war between Israel and Hezbollah caused widespread casualties and extensive damage last year, sending millions from their homes, members of the Catholic Maronite community spoke of Francis' frequent mentions of their plight.

"He's a saint for us because he carried Lebanon and the Middle East in his heart, especially in the last period of war," said a priest in the southern Lebanese town of Rmeish, which was badly damaged during Israel's military campaign last year.

"We always felt he was very involved and he mobilized all the Catholic institutions and funds to help Lebanon throughout the crises that we went through," said Marie-Jo Dib, who works at a social foundation in Lebanon.

"He was a rebel and I really pray that the next pope will be like him," she added.

Francis made repeated trips to the Middle East, including to Iraq in 2021 where he learned that two suicide bombers had attempted to assassinate him in Mosul, a once cosmopolitan city where the ISIS terror group proclaimed a so-called caliphate from 2014-17.

He visited the ruins of four destroyed churches there and launched an appeal for peace.

In Syria, Archbishop Antiba Nicolas said he was holding mass at the historic Damascus Zaitoun church when he was handed a slip of paper with the news.

"He used to say 'dearest Syria' every time he spoke of Syria. He called on all international organisations to support Syria, the Christian presence and the church in Syria during the crisis in the past years," Nicolas said.