His Majesty King Abdullah and HRH Crown Prince Hussein meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Amman on Wednesday (Photo courtesy of the Royal Court)

by Hani Hazaimeh | May 23, 2013 JORDAN TIMES

AMMAN — Jordan on Wednesday dismissed as baseless allegations that it is involved in arming Syrian rebels, reiterating its consistent position towards the Syrian crisis.

“We are a neighbouring country to Syria and influenced by what is happening there, but we do not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and at the same time, we share the same fears over the division of Syria,” Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told reporters.

At a joint press conference with his US counterpart John Kerry, held ahead of the Friends of Syria group meeting in Amman, Judeh said the gathering was in the interest of all parties since it calls for ending the violence through dialogue and diplomacy.

Judeh was responding to remarks by Syrian Ambassador in Amman Bahjat Suleiman strongly criticising the participants of the conference and calling them the “enemies of the Syrian people”.

The foreign ministers of Britain, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States attended the Friends of Syria gathering.

The conference aimed to build on last year’s international accord in Geneva which set out plans for a transition of power in Syria, but broke down over disagreements about President Bashar Assad’s role, Reuters reported.

“Tonight’s meeting is a challenge to all participants to reach and achieve peace and prevent the sectarian violence from seeping into other countries,” Kerry said at the press conference ahead of the Friends of Syria meeting.

“In the event that we can’t find that way forward, in the event that the Assad regime is unwilling to negotiate Geneva I in good faith, we will also talk about our continued support and growing support for the opposition in order to permit them to continue to be able to fight for the freedom of their country,” Kerry told a news conference.

“Hizbollah and Iran are already physically involved in the crisis,” he noted.

“… Active military support to the Assad regime simply exacerbates the sectarian tensions and it perpetuates… the regime’s campaign of terror against its own people,” Reuters quoted Kerry as saying.

“Our understanding [is that] if Geneva II were not on the horizon, all we would be looking at is the continued tragic disintegration of the county that will go down further into more violence and more destruction,” he added.

Briefing reporters on talks they held earlier in the day, the two diplomats said they discussed — in addition to Syria — efforts to revive Middle East peace negotiations and means to enhance bilateral ties.

“Jordan strongly supports the US efforts that aim to ensure regional stability,” Judeh said.

Kerry expressed his country’s appreciation of and support for Jordan’s efforts to achieve reforms, stressing the importance of the Kingdom’s role in achieving peace and stability in the region.

“We are working together on several issues and not only the Syrian crisis, but other issues such as the Palestinian-Israeli issue and Jordan’s hosting of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, which has caused some economic difficulties,” Kerry said.

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