By Laith Al Jnaidi and Tarek Chouiref
ISTANBUL (AA) – Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held talks on Wednesday at Basman Palace in Amman.
The talks opened shortly after the emir arrived in the Jordanian capital, accompanied by a high-level delegation, Jordan’s state news agency Petra reported.
The visit marks Sheikh Tamim’s first trip to Jordan since last week’s Israeli airstrike on Doha, which killed five Hamas members and a Qatari security officer.
Expanded talks between the two leaders are expected to focus on the fallout of the attack and wider regional developments.
The Sept. 9 strike drew sharp condemnation from Qatar, which vowed accountability and stressed its right to defend its sovereignty.
The attack came even as Doha, together with Egypt and the US, was mediating indirect talks between Hamas and Israel for a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange.
By hitting Qatar, Israel widened a campaign that has already included attacks on Iran in June, near-daily strikes in Lebanon and Syria, and a two-year-long genocidal war in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Israel has already killed almost 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has rendered the enclave uninhabitable, and led to starvation and spread of diseases.