By AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan’s Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz promised on Sunday to deepen a crackdown on tax evasion that officials say has deprived the country’s cash-strapped economy of billions of dollars’ revenue in recent years.Slideshow The government has gone after senior businessmen and former politicians suspected of tax dodging, money laundering and customs evasion in a weeks-long campaign that has gained greater urgency with the hit to state finances from the COVID-19 pandemic.“Protecting public money and fighting corruption is a national duty,” Razzaz said in his weekly...…By AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan’s Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz promised on Sunday to deepen a crackdown on tax evasion that officials say has deprived the country’s cash-strapped economy of billions of dollars’ revenue in recent years.Slideshow The government has gone after senior businessmen and former politicians suspected of tax dodging, money laundering and customs evasion in a weeks-long campaign that has gained greater urgency with the hit to state finances from the COVID-19 pandemic.“Protecting public money and fighting corruption is a national duty,” Razzaz said in his weekly...WW…

By AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian air defenses on Monday intercepted a new Israeli “aggression” above the capital Damascus, state media said, in the latest wave of attacks that Western intelligence sources have said were Israeli strikes on a major Iranian-backed ammunition depot on the edge of the capital.State television said Israeli missiles had flown over the Syrian Golan Heights where they conducted raids around the capital and live footage showed blasts across the skies of the capital.There was no immediate Israeli comment.A Syrian military spokesman was quoted on state television as saying...…By AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian air defenses on Monday intercepted a new Israeli “aggression” above the capital Damascus, state media said, in the latest wave of attacks that Western intelligence sources have said were Israeli strikes on a major Iranian-backed ammunition depot on the edge of the capital.State television said Israeli missiles had flown over the Syrian Golan Heights where they conducted raids around the capital and live footage showed blasts across the skies of the capital.There was no immediate Israeli comment.A Syrian military spokesman was quoted on state television as saying...WW…

By AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordanians took to the streets after a ban was lifted on driving and many businesses reopened in a rapid return to normality after the authorities relaxed a tough forty-day curfew to stem the spread of coronavirus.Slideshow A car driving ban for most of the country’s 10 million inhabitants was imposed shortly after King Abdullah enacted an emergency law in the middle of last month that gave the government sweeping powers that curb civil and political rights and deploy the army in cities.The government, which announced the move on Monday, said it could revert back to...…By AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordanians took to the streets after a ban was lifted on driving and many businesses reopened in a rapid return to normality after the authorities relaxed a tough forty-day curfew to stem the spread of coronavirus.Slideshow A car driving ban for most of the country’s 10 million inhabitants was imposed shortly after King Abdullah enacted an emergency law in the middle of last month that gave the government sweeping powers that curb civil and political rights and deploy the army in cities.The government, which announced the move on Monday, said it could revert back to...WW…

By , ANKARA/AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian government forces entered parts of a strategic rebel-held town on Monday, and Turkey said it would keep hitting President Bashar al-Assad’s troops after ramping up operations in its biggest intervention yet into the Syrian civil war.Turkey and Russia, which have come closer than ever to direct confrontation in Syria in recent days, traded threats over air space after Turkish forces shot down two Syrian government warplanes and struck a military airport.Fighting has escalated dramatically in recent days in northwest Syria, where Turkey has sent thousands...…By , ANKARA/AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian government forces entered parts of a strategic rebel-held town on Monday, and Turkey said it would keep hitting President Bashar al-Assad’s troops after ramping up operations in its biggest intervention yet into the Syrian civil war.Turkey and Russia, which have come closer than ever to direct confrontation in Syria in recent days, traded threats over air space after Turkish forces shot down two Syrian government warplanes and struck a military airport.Fighting has escalated dramatically in recent days in northwest Syria, where Turkey has sent thousands...WW…

By AMMAN (Reuters) - Russian jets hit a gas facility, a cement factory and several towns and cities in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border on Sunday, as Syrian army artillery killed seven civilians and injured 14 medics in an attack on a hospital in the area, witnesses and rebel sources said.Slideshow The sources said a Russian surface-to-surface missile also hit the town of Qah while Russian air strikes came close to densely populated refugee camps along the border with Turkey.A gas facility was hit near Sarmada city in Idlib province and dozens of trailers carrying goods in a...…By AMMAN (Reuters) - Russian jets hit a gas facility, a cement factory and several towns and cities in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border on Sunday, as Syrian army artillery killed seven civilians and injured 14 medics in an attack on a hospital in the area, witnesses and rebel sources said.Slideshow The sources said a Russian surface-to-surface missile also hit the town of Qah while Russian air strikes came close to densely populated refugee camps along the border with Turkey.A gas facility was hit near Sarmada city in Idlib province and dozens of trailers carrying goods in a...WW…

By AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan’s military has told King Abdullah’s half-brother Prince Hamza bin Hussein to halt actions targeting “security and stability” in what people familiar with the matter said could be related to a plot to destabilise the country.In a statement published by the state news agency, the military said the warning to Prince Hamza was part of a broader, ongoing security investigation in which a former minister, a junior member of the royal family and unnamed others were detained.Prince Hamza said in a video recording he was under house arrest and had been told to stay at...…By AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan’s military has told King Abdullah’s half-brother Prince Hamza bin Hussein to halt actions targeting “security and stability” in what people familiar with the matter said could be related to a plot to destabilise the country.In a statement published by the state news agency, the military said the warning to Prince Hamza was part of a broader, ongoing security investigation in which a former minister, a junior member of the royal family and unnamed others were detained.Prince Hamza said in a video recording he was under house arrest and had been told to stay at...WW…

By AMMAN (Reuters) - Russian jets hit a gas facility, a cement factory and several towns and cities in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border on Sunday, as Syrian army artillery killed seven civilians and injured 14 medics in an attack on a hospital in the area, witnesses and rebel sources said.Slideshow The sources said a Russian surface-to-surface missile also hit the town of Qah while Russian air strikes came close to densely populated refugee camps along the border with Turkey.A gas facility was hit near Sarmada city in Idlib province and dozens of trailers carrying goods in a...…By AMMAN (Reuters) - Russian jets hit a gas facility, a cement factory and several towns and cities in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border on Sunday, as Syrian army artillery killed seven civilians and injured 14 medics in an attack on a hospital in the area, witnesses and rebel sources said.Slideshow The sources said a Russian surface-to-surface missile also hit the town of Qah while Russian air strikes came close to densely populated refugee camps along the border with Turkey.A gas facility was hit near Sarmada city in Idlib province and dozens of trailers carrying goods in a...WW…

By AMMAN (Reuters) - Russian jets hit a gas facility, a cement factory and several towns and cities in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border on Sunday, as Syrian army artillery killed seven civilians and injured 14 medics in an attack on a hospital in the area, witnesses and rebel sources said.Slideshow The sources said a Russian surface-to-surface missile also hit the town of Qah while Russian air strikes came close to densely populated refugee camps along the border with Turkey.A gas facility was hit near Sarmada city in Idlib province and dozens of trailers carrying goods in a...…By AMMAN (Reuters) - Russian jets hit a gas facility, a cement factory and several towns and cities in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border on Sunday, as Syrian army artillery killed seven civilians and injured 14 medics in an attack on a hospital in the area, witnesses and rebel sources said.Slideshow The sources said a Russian surface-to-surface missile also hit the town of Qah while Russian air strikes came close to densely populated refugee camps along the border with Turkey.A gas facility was hit near Sarmada city in Idlib province and dozens of trailers carrying goods in a...WW…

By AMMAN (Reuters) - Iran has delivered several gasoline and crude oil shipments to Syria, easing a near two-month gasoline shortage aggravated by tougher U.S. sanctions, shippers, port officials and traders said.A vessel began unloading 38,000 tonnes of gasoline at the Baniyas oil terminal on Monday, three weeks after another ship carrying Iranian crude unloaded its one million barrel cargo, three shippers and a Damascus-based businessman familiar with the shipment told Reuters.In addition an Iranian vessel carrying another 1 million barrels off-loaded its cargo in the Mediterranean to two...…By AMMAN (Reuters) - Iran has delivered several gasoline and crude oil shipments to Syria, easing a near two-month gasoline shortage aggravated by tougher U.S. sanctions, shippers, port officials and traders said.A vessel began unloading 38,000 tonnes of gasoline at the Baniyas oil terminal on Monday, three weeks after another ship carrying Iranian crude unloaded its one million barrel cargo, three shippers and a Damascus-based businessman familiar with the shipment told Reuters.In addition an Iranian vessel carrying another 1 million barrels off-loaded its cargo in the Mediterranean to two...WW…