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PA’s Mahmoud Abbas met with Jordan’s King Abdullah, where he expressed his support for the solution.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday made a surprise visit to Amman, where he met with Jordan’s King Abdullah.

The visit is to be seen in the context of coordination between the PA and Jordan ahead of Abdullah’s planned trip to the US on July 19.

The PA and Jordan have expressed support for resuming the Middle East peace process on the basis of a two-state solution.

Abbas’s visit to Amman came as a committee, formed to investigate the death of Palestinian anti-corruption activist Nizar Banat, presented its findings to PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.

The death of Banat, allegedly beaten to death by PA security officers who came to arrest him last week in Hebron, triggered widespread protests in a number of Palestinian cities, where demonstrators chanted slogans against Abbas.
The PA’s official news agency Wafa said that Abbas had a “private meeting” with the Jordanian monarch. “They discussed the latest political developments in the Palestinian arena, bilateral relations and issues of mutual concern,” the agency said. “President Abbas affirmed ongoing coordination with Jordan on the interest of the Arab nation and its common causes, primarily the Palestinian cause.”

The separate meeting was followed by an expanded meeting involving officials from both sides.

Abbas was accompanied by PA Foreign Minister Riyad Malki, head of the General Authority of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh, General Intelligence Service head Majed Faraj and diplomatic affairs adviser to the PA president, Majdi al-Khaldi.

The Jordanian officials who attended the expanded meeting included Prime Minister Awn al-Khasawneh, Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and head of the Jordanian General Intelligence Directorate, Ahmad Husni.

During the meeting with Abbas, Abdullah reiterated Jordan’s support for the Palestinians in “achieving their just and legitimate rights and establishing their independent, sovereign and viable state on the June 4, 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital,” according to a statement published by the Jordanian news agency Petra.

Abdullah “stressed the importance of translating the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip into an extended truce that pushes towards a political solution that achieves the Palestinians’ rights,” the agency said. “His Majesty stressed the need to intensify international efforts to achieve a just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution, and to preserve the legal and historical status quo in Jerusalem, warning that Israel must stop all attacks and illegal measures in the Palestinian territories.”

Jordan continues to play its historical and religious role in protecting Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, based on the Hashemite guardianship over these holy sites, Abdullah said during the meeting. He also praised as “positive” the US administration’s decision to resume financial aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Meanwhile, PA Minister of Justice Mohammed al-Shalaldeh who headed the committee of inquiry into the death of Banat, on Tuesday night presented the findings to Shtayyeh.

Shtayyeh said that he will refer the report to the military judiciary, implying that those responsible for the death of the activist belonged to the PA security forces.

Shalaledeh said that the committee members interviewed the PA governor of Hebron and commanders and members of the various Palestinian security forces in Hebron.

The committee members also interviewed members of the Banat family who were present when the PA security officers arrived at his home to arrest him, Shalaldeh said, adding that the committee recommended that its report be referred to the judiciary.

But Ghassan Banat, the brother of the slain activist, denied that the committee members had met with any member of the family.

Pro-Iranian militias have fired eight rockets at the American base in Syria in response to US airstrikes.

In the late afternoon, around dusk, reports emerged that pro-Iranian groups had shelled areas in eastern Syria across from Deir Ezzor, ostensibly targeting US forces near the Omar oil fields. This is an important and strategic area and US forces who support the Syrian Democratic Forces, have been reported to have a facility or base in this area. The attack was linked to airstrikes the US had carried out in Syria targeting pro-Iranian groups on Monday.

“US Forces in Syria, while under multiple rocket attack, acted in self- defense and conducted counter-battery artillery fire at rocket launching positions,” wrote Col. Wayne Marotto, the spokesperson for the US-led Coalition to defeat ISIS.
At approx. 7:44 PM local time, US Forces in Syria were attacked by multiple rockets. There are no injuries and damage is being assessed, the US said.

Tasnim and Fars News in Iran both reported that artillery and katyusha rockets were fired. Video appeared to show a rocket trail similar to the kind of rockets Hamas uses in Gaza to target Israel. Open source intelligence accounts on social media confirmed the attack. Omar Abu Layla, who runs Deir Ezzor 24 wrote that “jets strike headquarters of Iranian militias in the vicinity of al-Mayadeen city.” He then retweeted accounts of shelling of the area near Omar oil field where US forces are allegedly located.

Video circulating social media reportedly from this evening of #Iran|ian back militants shelling Omar Oil Field in Deir Ez Zoe, #Syria where #US personnel are based. pic.twitter.com/6eZZYNrBbn
— Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) June 28, 2021

According to witnesses, the attack took place in the area of ​​Al-Omar oil field and the surrounding residential sheds, which resulted in heavy material losses in this place and the burning of several vehicles in the area. The attack comes roughly 18 hours after the US carried out airstrikes near Albukamal targeting pro-Iranian units that are linked to Iraq and which the US accuses of drone attacks on US facilities in Iraq. Pro-Iranian militias, such as Kataib Hezbollah and PMU Brigade 14, known as Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, were allegedly targeted.

Pro-Iranian militias operate in Syria from Albukamal on the Iraq border to Deir Ezzor and then via T-4 base to Damascus and Syria. Iran also has IRGC forces in Syria and members of the Fetemiyun brigade, volunteers from Afghanistan and Pakistan. These are Shi’ite groups. Iraqi militias also operate in Syria and have festooned the border area with bases and villas they control. The attacks on the US on the evening of June 28 appear to be retaliation.

Tasnim reports that “witnesses said US occupying forces were present in the area at the time of the attack, but did not say how many were killed. Some media outlets reported that the action was carried out by resistance groups.” After the attack, several reconnaissance planes belonging to the American occupying forces and the international coalition flew over the region, the Iranian media says. The Syrian online newspaper Al-Jasr also reported that the US military base in the Al-Mayadin area of ​​Syria was hit by at least eight Katyusha missiles.

The rapidity of Iranian reporting on the attacks appears to confirm they took place or that Iran is using this as propaganda against the US. Fars News says that the local “Saberin News reported a severe rocket attack on the Al-Omar oil field base in Deir ez-Zor on Syrian soil near the border with Iraq. According to the report, at least eight rockets targeted US coalition headquarters in the Omar oil field. Pillars of fire and smoke have now risen from the Omar oil field, and US helicopters have flown over it, Saberin News said. The report did not specify the source of the rocket fire.” The official Syrian News Agency (SANA) also confirmed the attack on the US military base in the Omar oil field.

The US-led Coalition did not respond to an inquiry but was looking into the reports at the time of writing.

It has been four days since the IAEA-Iran inspections cooperation deal expired and the Islamic Republic seems to indicate it’s in no rush to answer whether cooperation would continue.

You would think the sky was falling, but it isn’t.

It has been four days since the IAEA-Iran inspections deal expired, and even on Monday the Islamic Republic seemed to indicate it was in no rush to say whether cooperation would continue.

If the world is finally blind regarding the nuclear program at a moment when Tehran can already enrich uranium up to the 60% level, only one rung down from the 90% weaponized level, how come Israel and the West are so calm?
Why isn’t the world freaked out that this could be the moment that the ayatollahs are breaking out to a nuclear weapon and giving 48-hour ultimatums for a preemptive strike?

Sure, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has made statements in recent days suggesting that time eventually could run out on the JCPOA nuclear-deal negotiations.

France, the IAEA and some others have expressed angst over the situation.

But no one is even threatening a perfunctory emergency referral to the UN Security Council for a high-minded condemnation.

Some of the explanation for the Europeans could be that they do not tend to take action even in a crisis.

Maybe the same could be said for the Biden administration, which to date has mostly emphasized diplomacy over force.

Yet, there is also no sense of emergency from Israel.

There are regular statements by Israeli officials warning about holes in the JCPOA and about Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi.

But there are no imminent threats from Jerusalem designed to force the Islamic Republic to immediately reinstate the inspections or face the consequences.

Part of the answer is probably that several Iranian IAEA deadlines have come and gone without Tehran taking any leap forward, and a new deal has already been worked out.

All of its nuclear violations have been slow, incremental and forecasted in advance so as to not surprise or provoke the global community.

So what if four days have passed.

There is a strong expectation that since even hardliner Raisi has endorsed a return to the JCPOA, that is the path the ayatollahs are on, and this is a minor technical face-saving issue.

Even as Iran on Monday refused to recommit to IAEA inspections, its officials noticeably made sure to keep the possibility of a return to inspections open.

One Iranian parliamentary official said the IAEA would never see all of the recorded footage of Iran’s nuclear facilities, which it is holding on to.

But a different official said the footage was not being destroyed, which means it could still be quietly turned over at some later point.

However, all of these reasons are probably secondary to the real explanation of why Israel and the West are more perturbed than anxious.

The real reason is: Boom! All of the key Iranian nuclear facilities have been blown up recently.

Two different facilities at Natanz were blown up in July 2020 and April 2021.

After Iranian statements that they had recovered from these attacks, The Jerusalem Post learned from Israeli defense sources that this was not true, and Tehran’s nuclear program is in a sling or worse.

This was later confirmed by an IAEA report that, when read according to the timing of the April 2021 attack, showed how handicapped Tehran’s uranium enrichment is due to destroyed centrifuges.

Last week, there was an attack on a key Iranian nuclear facility at Karaj, essentially replacing Natanz, which was repeatedly blown up.

It is as if Iran has a nuclear ship that sprouts a dozen new leaks every time they fill one of the old leaks.

None of this means Iran is not a threat. If the IAEA were blind for a longer period, say, several weeks, there would be much greater concern from Israel and globally.

But it does mean that if Iran needs a bit more time to sulk before offering a face-saving formula for continuing IAEA cooperation, Jerusalem does not yet need to lose any sleep.