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Jordan's King to Meet with Biden in Washington on Friday

King Abdullah II of Jordan stands for a photo with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on May 10, 2022. (AFP)
King Abdullah II of Jordan stands for a photo with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on May 10, 2022. (AFP)
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Jordan's King to Meet with Biden in Washington on Friday

King Abdullah II of Jordan stands for a photo with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on May 10, 2022. (AFP)
King Abdullah II of Jordan stands for a photo with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on May 10, 2022. (AFP)

Jordan's King Abdullah II will visit Washington on Friday for talks with US President Joe Biden.

The trip "will reinforce the close friendship and enduring partnership between the United States and Jordan," the White House said in a statement.

"Jordan is a critical force for stability in the Middle East and strategic partner and ally of the United States," it added.

The visit will be King Abdullah's second to Washington since Biden took office, following talks between the monarch and the president in July 2021.

At that time, Biden stressed his long-standing relationship with the king, noting that it goes back decades, to when King Abdullah's father ruled Jordan.

This week's trip comes during a series of anti-Israeli attacks that has left dozens dead since late March, among them Palestinian and Arab-Israeli perpetrators.

King Abdullah appealed last month for "calm" between the two sides.

Sources at the White House said talks between King Abdullah and Biden will discuss the tensions and ways to calm the situation.

They will tackle bilateral ties and the impact Russia's war on Ukraine is having on the Middle East.

King Abdullah will also meet with senior administration officials and Congress leadership; as well as members of the Senate Foreign Relations, Appropriations, and Armed Services committees; and members of the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, and the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee at the House of Representatives, reported Jordan's state news agency Petra.

Biden is slated to visit Israel in June at the invitation of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. He is set to meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials.

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Syrian Intelligence Says It Foiled ISIS Attempt to Target Damascus Shrine

A general view of the city during the year's first sunrise on New Year's Day, after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 1, 2025. (Reuters)
A general view of the city during the year's first sunrise on New Year's Day, after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 1, 2025. (Reuters)
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Syrian Intelligence Says It Foiled ISIS Attempt to Target Damascus Shrine

A general view of the city during the year's first sunrise on New Year's Day, after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 1, 2025. (Reuters)
A general view of the city during the year's first sunrise on New Year's Day, after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 1, 2025. (Reuters)

Intelligence officials in Syria's new de facto government thwarted a plan by the ISIS group to set off a bomb at a Shiite shrine in the Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab, state media reported Saturday.

State news agency SANA reported, citing an unnamed official in the General Intelligence Service, that members of the ISIS cell planning the attack were arrested.  

It quoted the official as saying that the intelligence service is “putting all its capabilities to stand in the face of all attempts to target the Syrian people in all their spectrums.”

Sayyida Zeinab has been the site of past attacks on Shiite pilgrims by ISIS.

In 2023, a motorcycle planted with explosives detonated in Sayyida Zeinab, killing at least six people and wounding dozens.

The announcement that the attack had been thwarted appeared to be another attempt by the country's new leaders to reassure religious minorities, including those seen as having been supporters of the former government of Bashar al-Assad.

Assad, a member of the Alawite minority, was allied with Iran and with the Shiite Lebanese group Hezbollah as well as Iranian-backed Iraqi militias.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the former opposition group that led the lightning offensive that toppled Assad last month and is now the de facto ruling party in the country, is a group that formerly had ties with al-Qaeda.

The group later split from al-Qaeda, and HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa has preached religious coexistence since assuming power in Damascus.

Also Saturday, Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrived in Damascus to meet with al-Sharaa.

Relations between the two countries had been strained under Assad, with Lebanon's political factions deeply divided between those supporting and opposing Assad's rule.