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Herzog Announces Return of Ties with Jordan to the Right Path

A general view shows a stretch of the King Abdullah Canal near the Jordanian border town of Shuna Shamalia (North Shuna), some four kilometers from the Wadi al-Arab Dam on March 12, 2018. AFP photo
A general view shows a stretch of the King Abdullah Canal near the Jordanian border town of Shuna Shamalia (North Shuna), some four kilometers from the Wadi al-Arab Dam on March 12, 2018. AFP photo
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Herzog Announces Return of Ties with Jordan to the Right Path

A general view shows a stretch of the King Abdullah Canal near the Jordanian border town of Shuna Shamalia (North Shuna), some four kilometers from the Wadi al-Arab Dam on March 12, 2018. AFP photo
A general view shows a stretch of the King Abdullah Canal near the Jordanian border town of Shuna Shamalia (North Shuna), some four kilometers from the Wadi al-Arab Dam on March 12, 2018. AFP photo

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog has announced the return of diplomatic ties with Jordan to the right path.

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Saturday received a telephone call from Herzog. The former congratulated him on being sworn in as president last week.

A reliable source characterized the call as “friendly and warm.”

The Jordanian monarch “expressed satisfaction over the return of the diplomatic relations to their proper trajectory,” the Israeli president’s spokesman said.

Herzog’s office said the two agreed to remain in contact “to work together to advance cooperation between the states, for the benefit of their nations and the entire region.”

The Israeli president was quoted as saying that he wanted to strengthen economic and tourism ties between the two countries.

A statement carried by Jordan’s official Petra news agency said King Abdullah called for increased efforts to reach a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Last week, Israel struck a deal to sell Jordan an additional 50 million cubic meters of water this year and allow Jordanian imports to the West Bank to go up from $160 million in 2020 to about $700 million.

The deals were concluded after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and King Abdullah met in Amman, followed by a public meeting on Thursday between Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi.

Gilad Sharon, the son of late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, led a campaign against the water deal.

Neglecting the fact that Jordan will pay 40 cents for each cubic meter of water (which is four folds the usual cost), Sharon considered that this deal gives Israel’s water for free.

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Israel Calls up New Brigade to Lebanon Front

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Kfarkila near the border with Israel on October 19, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Kfarkila near the border with Israel on October 19, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
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Israel Calls up New Brigade to Lebanon Front

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Kfarkila near the border with Israel on October 19, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Kfarkila near the border with Israel on October 19, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)

The Israeli army said Friday that it will deploy an additional brigade to its northern border as it continues to combat Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“In accordance with the situational assessment, the (army) is calling up an additional reserve brigade for operational missions in the northern arena,” near the Lebanese border, a military statement said.

Hezbollah said Friday it is entering a new phase in its fight against invading Israeli troops, as the region reckons with the killing of top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a battle with Israeli forces in Gaza.

It said it had used precision missiles for the first time in the war with Israel and that “hundreds of resistance members have been fighting over 70,000 Israeli officers and soldiers on the ground.”

Hezbollah added it has been targeting Israeli military locations along the border with Lebanon, as well as settlements and occupied cities in Israel’s north.

The Iran-backed party did not elaborate on the nature of the “new phase”, but said the ground battles have left “55 enemy soldiers dead and over 500 wounded.”

Riad Kahwaji, director of the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA), said Hezbollah’s talk of a new phase in battle was aimed at “raising the morale of its members,” unless the party meant that the fight has effectively been moved to within Lebanese territories.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he added that the party is trying to convey the impression that it was still strong. He noted that the party has used up the majority of its small rockets and its ballistic missiles.

Whatever the party hasn’t yet used won’t change the equation on the ground, he added.

The fighting is now on the ground and the party is trying to repel the Israeli advance, he went on to say.

Moreover, he stressed that Hezbollah is “suffering major losses and no longer has military capabilities.”

The Israelis are also losing soldiers in the battle, “which is normal and to be expected from such fighting. But it is evident that Israel is forging ahead in the confrontation. Nothing appears to have changed from the Israeli side,” added Kahwaji.

Little has emerged about the fighting on the ground. Hezbollah has spoken of fighting inside villages, saying the Israeli army is incurring “massive losses” along the frontlines.

Israel has also called in five ground units boasting over 70,000 officers and soldiers, and hundreds of tanks and military vehicles since the beginning of the fighting,

On the other hand, Hezbollah said it had called up hundreds of fighters to confront any Israeli incursion.