Jordan Times
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Kingdom calls for lifting
siege on Fallujah
By Rana Husseini
AMMAN, October 19 - Jordan on Monday called for lifting a siege on the
battle-scarred Iraqi city of Fallujah to help ease the humanitarian plight of
its inhabitants during Ramadan.
“We call on all the parties to lift the siege on Fallujah so that relief and
medical teams can enter the city,” Minister of State and Government Spokesperson
Asma Khader told her weekly press conference.
Khader added that relief teams should be able to enter the city, which has been
surrounded by more than 1,000 US and Iraqi troops since Thursday, “to provide
humanitarian assistance, particularly during this Holy Month.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross yesterday “expressed its deep
concern over the mounting violence” in Fallujah and said it sent 1.5 tonnes of
urgent medical and surgical equipment to a hospital there as well as 1,500 food
parcels and 1,000 water containers. Fallujah has been the target of almost
nightly US air strikes in recent weeks as US and Iraqi forces seek to end
resistance.