Washington warns Jordanian merchants against dealing with Assad regime

The American economic attaché in Jordan told Jordanian merchants not to deal with the Assad regime in a meeting held two months ago in the capital, Amman, Hadi al-Tabba', the chairman of the Jordanian Merchants Society told Orient News' correspondent.

Al-Tabba' said that the attendants in that meeting were surprised at the American request, explaining that his society is a nonofficial body which implements orders issued only by the Jordanian government.

People understood the message as a warning by the American official, Al-Tabba added.

"Humanitarian aid was excluded from any warning".

Merchants asked if the US would sanction dealers or businessmen who could deal with regime, Al-Tabba' continued without elaboration.

Meanwhile, Doctor Khalid al-Shakran, the head of the View Studies Centre, considered the reported American warnings as an attempt to feel the Jordanian pulse towards the Assad regime, and it could also be a message of additional pressure practiced on the regime.

The House of Representatives passed by voice acclamation in January the Caesar Syrian Civilian Protection Act of 2019 to impose new US sanctions on supporters of the Assad regime's energy, airspace and business sectors.