Jordan not to withdraw ambassador from Syria

Jordan will not withdraw the its ambassador in Damascus to safeguard bilateral interests and ties, Al-Ghad Jordanian newspapers reported on Monday. The newspaper quoted a Jordanian official, who spoke on anonymity condition, saying that "The presence of an ambassador in one country does not necessarily reflect the political views on that nation. We have a political stance towards the violence taking place in Syria and it has been clearly stated on different occasions." On the subject of imposing sanctions on Syria, the official said that Jordan will not apply these sanctions, explaining that 62 percent of Jordan's imports comes for Europe through Syria. Jordan also needs to take in consideration the safety of its civilians living in Syria as well as the security of the borders with the north neighbor. The newspaper reported that there are around 78,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan who crossed the borders since the beginning of the crackdown on the current leadership, in March of 2011, with an increase of 30,000 escapees in the last five months. Jordan had announced, recently, setting up refugee camps to contain Syrian refugees crossing the borders