MPs demand Jordan stay out of war on IS jihadists

Published September 4th, 2014 - 05:10 GMT
Al Bawaba
Al Bawaba

The 21 MPs, who represent different factions in the Jordanian 150-seat parliament, told speaker Atef al-Tarawneh in a memorandum on Wednesday that the government should “not involve Jordan” in the fight against the ISIL.

"This war is not our war. Accordingly, we reject categorically any Jordanian contribution in a battle that is not ours," they said in the document.

Khalil Attia, one of the signatories, said the group does not “want to be dragged into an international coalition" in the fight against the Takfiris.

The memo came at a time when Jordan's King Abdullah II is preparing to attend a NATO summit of Western leaders, including US President Barack Obama.

The summit, which will be held in Newport, Wales on Thursday, is expected to focus on threats posed by the ISIL as well as the situation in Ukraine.

The ISIL controls large swathes of Syria's northern territory. The group sent its members into neighboring Iraq in June and seized large parts of land there in a lightening advance.

Syrian and Iraqi forces have been battling the Takfiris in different fronts to push them out of their territories.

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