Source: Jordan Times, AmmanAug.迷你倉 30--AMMAN -- Amidst growing fears of a US-led military strike against Syria, Jordanians expressed deep concerns about a spillover from the neighbouring crisis-hit Arab state.In interviews with The Jordan Times over the phone on Wednesday and Thursday, residents of the northern region near the border with Syria said they fear that military action against Syria might trigger an all-out regional war, where Jordan, especially communities on the border area, might bear the brunt of the raging conflict.The US and its Western allies accuse forces loyal to the embattled President Bashar Assad of unleashing nerve gas against Damascus' East Ghouta and West Ghouta, and are threatening to strike the regime's airbases and chemical arsenal in response.Tahsin Rsheidat, from Turra town near Ramtha, said all the people in his village, which is twinned with the southern Syrian village of Tal Shihab, "are holding their breath after the countdown to a war on Syria began"."The only thing people do now is watch TV for the latest news on the prospective war," he said.Although people of Turra are no strangers to the unrest in Syria a few kilometres away, Rsheidat said the current situation is different."It is no longer an internal struggle in Syria. It is getting closer to a large-scale war," he said."The news about the US military strikes against Syria has increased our anxiety about the conflict and its possible, if not inevitable, spillover to Jordan," he said.The same worries were expressed by Ahmad Rsheidat, also from Turra, who added that people in Ramtha, some 90km north of Amman, are in constant fear that the Syrian war could reach their to儲存ns and villages, which have been receiving the largest number of Syrian refugees."We are not worried about the increasing number of refugees as much as the possibility of being drawn into the war in Syria. War is chaos and cannot be contained," he said.A housewife from Turra, who preferred to be referred to as Um Mohammad Darabseh, also expressed concerns about the war expanding to the region."With the possible military strikes, the conflict in Syria could transform from clashes between government forces and opposition fighters into a full-out regional war," the mother of four said.Israa Obeidat, from the northern Kufr Soum village in Irbid Governorate, was also anxious about the possible US-led military strikes against Syria. "Seriously, people in my village, which is very close to the border with Syria, are worried about where to go if the war reaches Jordan's north region," said Obeidat, who is a banker.Expressing worries over a possible Syrian retaliatory chemical attack against Jordan, Obeidat demanded that the government distribute gas masks among residents of the northern regions."We do nothing in our village but watch TV, search the Internet and social networks for news about the military strike," she said.Ahmad Salameh, from Dafianeh village in Mafraq Governorate, some 80km northeast of Amman, was also concerned about the new developments in the Syrian crisis.He said that many villagers left Dafianeh, on the borderline with Syria, fearing that their village might be hit during the war.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Jordan Times (Amman, Jordan) Visit the Jordan Times (Amman, Jordan) at .jordantimes.com Distributed by MCT Information Services新蒲崗迷你倉
留言列表
