Jordan Expels Syrian Envoy in Diplomatic Tussle

The AP reports that Jordan expelled the controversial Syrian ambassador to Amman on Monday, “prompting Damascus to do the same in a diplomatic tussle that could signal the start of unraveling ties between the neighbors.

“It was unclear what specifically caused Jordan to expel Syrian Ambassador Bahjat Suleiman. Jordan has hosted an envoy from Syria since the start of the 2011 uprising despite quietly supporting rebels trying to overthrow Assad.” He was given 24 hours to leave the country.

A Jordanian foreign ministry spokeswoman declared Suleiman persona non grata because of “continued offensive statements, through his personal contacts or writing in the media and the social media, against the kingdom” and said that his distribes about Jordan had been a “sheer departure from all diplomatic norms and conventions.” Soon after her announcement, Syria’s Foreign Ministry said it would expel the Jordanian charge d’affaires in retaliation.

Syrian Rebels Describe U.S.-Backed Training in Qatar

McClatchy reports that moderate Syrian rebels have said that the U.S. has been arranging for their training in Qatar.

“In a documentary to be aired [on PBS’s ‘Frontline’] Tuesday night, the rebels describe their clandestine journey from the Syrian battlefield to meet with their American handlers in Turkey and then travel on to Qatar, where they say they received training in the use of sophisticated weapons and fighting techniques, including, one rebel said, ‘how to finish off soldiers still alive after an ambush.’

“The interviews are the latest evidence that after more than three years of warfare, the United States has stepped up the provision of lethal aid to the rebels. In recent months, at least five rebel units have posted videos showing their members firing U.S.-made TOW anti-tank missiles at Syrian positions. The weapons are believed to have come from Saudi Arabia, but experts on international arms transfers have told McClatchy that they could not have been given to the rebels without the approval of the Obama administration.”

Syria’s Fractured Railroad Is a Testament to Shattered Ambitions

Anne Barnard of the New York Times reports from Damascus on the stalled expansion of Syria’s state railway, a “repository of shelved ambitions” that symbolizes the abrupt halt in the country’s development.

In an enormous pit behind the Transportation Ministry, “workers dug tunnels from outlying stations and began the foundation of a 12-story shopping mall over the tracks, before the country convulsed in conflict three years ago, bringing construction, and eventually Syria’s entire railway system, to a halt. Even here at the Hejaz station, the war has encroached; a few months ago, a mortar shell fired by insurgents struck the busy square just outside, killing 12 people.

“The shutdown is only the latest contraction of the region’s horizons. As borders and conflicts proliferated over the past 100 years, they cut rail ties that symbolized the lost links of business and society that once knitted the Levant, and the wider Middle East, together.”

British Jihad Accused of Brutal Killings

The BBC reports that a senior rebel leader has said British fighters make up most of the foreign members in the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, widely regarded as Syria’s most violent extremist group.

“In a letter to the Times, Brig-Gen Abdulellah al-Basheer of the Free Syrian Army asks for help in curbing [ISIS]. He claims the group attacks opposition forces, not the Assad regime. UK fighters are involved in activities including beheadings, crucifixions and ill-treatment of women, he adds. In his letter, General al-Basheer writes that ignoring the problem could lead to British extremists returning home to ‘continue on their pernicious path of destruction.’”

Last week, a British citizen and father-of-two named Mashudur Choudhury became the UK’s first fighter o be convicted of “terrorist offenses” in connection with the Syrian conflict. Using him as an example, al-Basheer wrote: “He is one of many. They are not freedom fighters. They are terrorists” and said that the majority of non-Syrian members of the predominantly foreign ISIS are from the UK.

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