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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syria hands land back to Jordan |
| 2005-02-28 |
| SYRIA agreed today to hand back to Jordan a huge tract of land along their border, heralding a new era in ties with Amman after disagreements over the Middle East peace process and US policy in Iraq. Syrian Prime Minister Naji al Otari said the deal reconfirmed an internationally recognised border drawn in 1931. "This demarcation of borders is a step forward to the cooperation we started several years back," Mr Otari said. Under the accord, agreed after several top-level security meetings over the last six months, Syria will remove fences and posts on land it had gained in decades of creeping incursions into Jordan. Syria and Jordan, both neighbours of Iraq, have long been at odds over the aims of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the Middle East peace process. Jordan, a key US ally which covertly supported the invasion, has in recent months joined Washington in piling pressure on Damascus to be more supportive of the postwar political process in Iraq. Syria opposed the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and Washington has accused it of failing to stop infiltration and weapons-smuggling into Iraq. Syria denies the accusations. Today's agreement was the first attempt to settle the issue since talks between Jordan's late King Hussein and late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad stalled after the 1991 Gulf War. "We have now signed the accord, and I believe ending this issue will rebuild trust and cooperation," Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan said after signing the accord with his Jordanian counterpart, Samir Habashneh. Syria's incursions over the years stretched as far as 3km in some places along the 375km border, mostly at the eastern fringe near the Iraqi frontier. "There is a stretch of land estimated at 125sq km that has been returned back to Jordan. There is no negative repercussions in this deal," Mr Habashneh said. "Both sides regained their historic rights. Jordan said it hoped a security deal also signed today would seal the Syrian-Jordanian border amid concerns Syrian militants were assisting Jordanian radicals in alleged plots to attack Jordanian and US targets in the kingdom. "We are talking about regional security issues and our neighbour Syria will now work with us to prevent terrorism and organised crime," Mr Habashneh said. |
| Posted by:tipper |