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British-European Support for Jordan to Resolve Waste Collection, Management Crisis

British-European Support for Jordan to Resolve Waste Collection, Management Crisis
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British-European Support for Jordan to Resolve Waste Collection, Management Crisis

British-European Support for Jordan to Resolve Waste Collection, Management Crisis

Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) received on Tuesday 101 new refuse collection and solid waste management vehicles, financed by the EBRD and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

The EBRD investment and DFID’s financial contribution to improve solid waste management in Amman will alleviate the unprecedented strain the municipality has been facing since the arrival of thousands of Syrian refugees after 2011.

The dramatic increase in Amman’s population to almost five million far exceeds the capacity of the Ghabawi landfill, the main facility for the capital’s solid waste.

Waste transport and transfer are among GAM’s most pressing issues since the two old waste transfer stations– where waste is transferred to larger vehicles transporting it to the landfill in Ain al-Ghazal and Yarmouk have been decommissioned.

Accordingly, collection vehicles are required to travel long distances and staff needs to work additional shifts through the only available station in al-Shaer.

The launching ceremony of the delivery of the new vehicles at King Hussain Gardens was under the patronage of Amman’s Mayor Youssef Shawarbeh and in the presence of British Ambassador to Jordan Edward Oakden and EBRD associate banker Khalil Masri.

The new fleet consists of waste compactors and roll-on and roll-off waste collecting vehicles, which will work simultaneously with older vehicles.

The investment will improve the waste collection and optimize the city’s overall solid waste management system.

The new vehicles will allow GAM to hire new drivers to manage shorter shifts under improved working conditions.

The EBRD is committed to supporting GAM to improve the city’s infrastructure and to upgrade Amman’s solid waste management system, it said in a statement.

To date, the Bank has provided JOD67 million (€82 million equivalent) in loans to the city alone and by working with other donors, including the United Kingdom, the European Union, the EBRD’s Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Multi-Donor Account (SEMED MDA and TaiwanICDF, who have extended an additional JOD19 million in grants.

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Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
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Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)

Israeli forces have blocked supply routes to the southern Lebanese border city of al-Khiam ahead of storming it.

They have also surrounded the strategic city with Hezbollah fighters still inside, launching artillery and air attacks against them.

Hezbollah fighters have been holding out in Khiam for 25 days. The capture of the city would be significant and allow Israeli forces easier passage into southern Lebanon.

Field sources said Israeli forces have already entered some neighborhoods of Khiam from its eastern and southern outskirts, expanding their incursion into its northern and eastern sectors to fully capture the city.

They cast doubt on claims that the city has been fully captured, saying fighting is still taking place deeper inside its streets and alleys, citing the ongoing artillery fire and drone and air raids.

Israel has already cut off Hezbollah’s supply routes by seizing control of Bourj al-Mamlouk, Tall al-Nahas and olive groves in al-Qlaa in the Marayoun region. Its forces have also fanned out to the west towards the Litani River.

The troops have set up a “line of fire” spanning at least seven kms around Khiam to deter anti-tank attacks from Hezbollah and to launch artillery, drone and aerial attacks, said the sources.

The intense pressure has forced Hezbollah to resort to suicide drone attacks against Israeli forces.

Hezbollah’s al-Manar television said Israeli forces tried to carry out a new incursion towards Khiam’s northern neighborhoods.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that since Friday night, Israeli forces have been using “all forms of weapons in their attempt to capture Khiam, which Israel views as a strategic gateway through which it can make rapid ground advances.”

It reported an increase in air and artillery attacks in the past two days as the forces try to storm the city.

The troops are trying to advance on Khiam by first surrounding it from all sides under air cover, it continued.

They are also booby-trapping some homes and buildings and then destroying them, similar to what they have done in other southern towns, such as Adeisseh, Yaround, Aitaroun and Mais al-Jabal.

Khiam holds symbolic significance to the Lebanese people because it was the first city liberated following Israel’s implementation of United Nations Security Council 425 on May 25, 2000, that led to its withdrawal from the South in a day that Hezbollah has since declared Liberation Day.