ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Jordan said on Friday that they would host regional countries in Amman on Sunday to discuss “practical strategies” for collaboration in the fight against terrorism, smuggling of weapons and drugs, and other pressing issues.
"The meeting will include the heads of intelligence agencies, chiefs of staff, foreign ministers, and defense ministers from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Republic of Turkey, the Syrian Arab Republic, the Republic of Iraq, and the Lebanese Republic,” Jordanian state-run Jordan News Agency quoted Sufian Qudah, spokesperson of Jordan's foreign ministry, as saying.
Qudah added that the meeting is also designed to “explore ways” to support Syria in their efforts to rebuild the country.
"The meeting will explore ways to support the Syrian people in their efforts to rebuild their country on the foundations that guarantee its unity, sovereignty, security, and stability, rid it of terrorism, ensure conditions for the voluntary return of refugees, and preserve the rights of all its people,” the Jordanian foreign ministry spokesperson said.
The Sunday meeting will come amid growing escalations in Syria between the new government and Assad loyalists in the country’s western coastal regions. At least 70 people have been killed in the clashes since Thursday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
Jordan says it hosts 1.3 million Syrians who fled the country since 2011, with 650,000 registered with the UN.
An 11-day sweeping rebel offensive spearheaded by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, who currently acts as the country’s interim president, brought a five-decade-long rule of the Assad family to an end on December 8.
Several regional and international conferences have been held in the course of the past three months to help rebuild Syria.
Since the fall of Assad, the interim Syrian government in Damascus has been repeatedly calling on the international community, notably the US and European countries, to lift sanctions imposed on the former Assad regime so the country could begin rebuilding across all walks of life, and pave the way for the return of millions of Syria who have sought asylum in neighboring and European countries.
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