Jordanian King warns spillover of Syrian crisis to neighboring countries

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Wednesday warned of spillover of the Syrian conflict to countries of the region. "I'm extremely worried about the risk of a fragmentation of Syria. Over the past few months we have witnessed an increase in sectarian violence," King Abdullah told Agence France-Presse (AFP). He added "this not only endangers the unity of Syria, but it could also be a prelude to a spillover of the conflict, into neighboring countries with similar sectarian composition." On his country's stance toward the situation in Syria, the King asserted that Jordan will always act under the framework of international and Arab consensus, and in accordance with international law in order to reach a final solution for attaining a peaceful political transformation. He also stressed importance of international support of Jordan to face burdens of Syrian refugees, whom fled to Jordanian lands, pointing out that the cost of that is very high and Jordan cannot afford guarantee it all by itself. On Jordanian nuclear program, he said that strong opposition to Jordan's nuclear energy program is coming from Israel. "When we started going down the road of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, we approached some highly responsible countries to work with us. And pretty soon we realized that Israel was putting pressure on those countries to disrupt any cooperation with us," added King Abdullah. He indicated that the option his country's government seeks would cost about USD 5 billion for a plant that would constitute one third of the total power capacity generated in Jordan. Jordan, which imports 95 percent of its energy needs, is struggling to find alternatives to Egyptian gas, which normally covers 80 percent of power production. Since 2011, the gas pipeline from Egypt to both Israel and Jordan has been attacked 14 times, with a consequent disruption of supplies.