Jordan guards against Syria chemical weapons use
Jordan has taken precautions in case chemical weapons are used in Syria, the Jordanian foreign minister said on Wednesday, reflecting regional concern about a Syrian threat to use such weapons against foreign forces.
The Syrian government acknowledged on Monday that the country had chemical weapons. It said it would not use them to put down the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad but that it could use them against any foreign forces that intervened.
Asked about Jordan's preparations if such a scenario unfolded in neighbour Syria, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said: "Jordan does not interfere in the internal affairs (of nations) but we have taken all precautions to protect our nation's safety and national security."
Talking to reporters after a meeting with Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi in Cairo, he declined to give further details, adding that talk of Syria's use of chemical weapons was "still only hypothetical until now and is not a reality".
Arab League foreign ministers on Sunday asked Assad to step down, offering him and his family a "safe exit" in return.
Judeh said 140,000 Syrians had fled to Jordan since the start of the Syrian revolt in March last year.
Ahram Online
Video
Spot Lights
Ministers in Prime Minister Hisham Qandil's cabinet following the recent reshuffle (new appointees are in italics): 1. Minister of Agriculture Ahmed Mahmoud Ali El-Gizawi2. Minister of Antiquities Ahmed Eissa3. Minister of Aviation Wael Maadawi4. Minister of Communication Atef Helmy5. Minister of Culture
AP— April 15, 2013: Two bombs explode in the packed streets near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 140.— January 17, 2011: A backpack bomb is placed along a Martin Luther King Day parade route in Spokane, Washington, meant to kill and injure participants in a civil rights march, but is found and disabled before it can explode. White
The convenient marriage between Iran and the Arab left would have been unthinkable only a few years ago, given the traditional ideological paradoxes between patriarchal Persian Shiism, on the one hand, and leftist orthodoxy on the other.Indeed, a casual viewer of Hizbullah's Al-Manar television, or the Iranian-funded Al-Mayadin TV, these days would probably think that the two Shia propaganda
"Abdullah's appointment was done via constitutional decree; it was a sovereign act by the head of the executive and therefore cannot be reversed by court ruling," said one leading FJP/Brotherhood figure. His comments echoed earlier assertions by Brotherhood lawyer Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maksoud.The return of former prosecutor-general Mahmoud is "not going to happen," according to several government
