Syria accused Jordan’s King Hussein of using ‘repressive measures’ in putting down anti-government demonstrations that have left an unknown number of people dead and wounded.
The official Syrian press agency, SANA, also said Jordan was attempting to enforce an information blackout on disturbances in northern Jordan.
SANA quoted Syrian Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam as saying the demonstrations were causted by ‘popular anger’ against the government. Jordan dismissed the disturbances as ‘mere protests’ by people whose houses were being demolished because they were constructed on state-owned land.
Syrian-Jordanian relations have been strained for many years over different approaches to the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Iran-Iraq war, and over Jordan’s alleged sheltering of the Moslem Brotherhood organization that is outlawed in Syria.
