By Omar Obeidat and Hani Hazaimeh JORDAN TIMES

AMMAN – Jordan officially requested to be excluded from implementing Arab League sanctions on Syria to avoid possible damage to the Kingdom’s interests, a senior official at the foreign ministry said on Monday.

“We asked the Arab League’s technical committee, during its meeting in Doha on Saturday to exclude Jordan’s trade and aviation sectors from the sanctions,” Mohammad Kayed, the ministry’s spokesperson, told The Jordan Times yesterday.

He added that during the meeting, the committee also decided to lower the number of flights to Syria by 50 per cent instead of halting them completely.

However, Kayed said the committee was tasked to report to the Arab foreign ministers, who will meet next Saturday to discuss the recommendations of the committee.

He reiterated that the Kingdom supports the Arab League’s decisions and remains with the Arab consensus regarding the situation in Syria.

Transport Ministry Secretary General Laith Dababneh told The Jordan Times on Monday that around 3,000 cargo trucks from Jordan use Syria as a transit route to Turkey and Europe.

There are also around 1,000 passenger transportation cars between Jordan and Syria, according to the official.

During the winter season, Jordan exports large quantities of vegetables to the Syrian market as well as to several European countries through Syria.

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NOTE BY THE EDITOR: ‘Sanctions’ and ‘Blokades’ usually target the wrong people. The common people and the small traders will be very much affected, bringing hardship and bankcruptcy to many. Those that are supposed to be targeted have sufficient ‘reserves’ to be minimally affected. May Allah protect His Umma…