PM urges vigilance after Syria shell kills Jordanian
Ramtha, (Petra) – Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said Saturday the repercussions of the long Syrian war on neighbouring countries will persist, urging Jordanians to maintain vigil after a shell, fired in fierce fighting in southern Syria, struck the border city of Ramtha, killing a young man.
Ensour was speaking in Ramtha near the Syrian border, where he offered sympathies to the family of the victim, 23-year-old engineering student Abdel Munim Hourani, who was killed by the shell that struck the market and also left four other people injured.
“His martyrdom is a result of injustice and shells fired in an unrestrained way. One of the forms of this injustice is that the innocent are dying while on their way to work, university or mosque, no matter who fires these shells, since these are being fired close to populated areas,” he said.
He said the incident had rocked the whole country as did the martyrdom of Royal Air Force pilot Muath Kasasbeh, “which calls upon us as one Jordanian people to be vigilant as the war in Syria has gone on for long and its impact on regional countries will remain.”
The prime minister said the people of Ramtha had over the past four years borne the brunt of the Syrian conflict, urging the local people “not to harm the Syrian brothers by words or deeds since they are guests, who have sought a safe refuge from the war and destruction in their country.”
Ensour also took the occasion to decry deadly attacks in Kuwait, Tunisia and France yesterday, which killed dozens of people.
“We are all filled with sadness and shame at what happened yesterday in Kuwait, Tunisia and France, and at killings (carried out) in the name of Islam,” he said, adding that the attacks had inflicted more harm on Islam than any armies in the past.
Meanwhile, a number of ministers visited the three people, injured as a result of the shell that struck the Ramtha market, who continue to be under treatment in the hospital, and were reassured about their condition and the care being provided to them.
//Petra//SS