TROOPS MOVING INTO JORDAN

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28253, 15 April 1957, Page 9

TROOPS MOVING INTO JORDAN

Effect Of Cabinet Crisis (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9.20 p.m.) LONDON, April 14. Syria has begun moving troops into Jordan to reinforce its 3000 man brigade which has been there since the Suez crisis, according to diplomatic sources in Amman quoted by the British United Press.

Western diplomats quoted by the American Associated Press said that a Syrian armoured regiment had entered the country. Both Syria and Saudi Arabia, who are supporting opposing sides in the Jordan crisis, have troops in Jordan.

The British United Press quoted a semi-official Egyptian Middle East News Agency report from Amman that Iraqi troops had arrived in the Jordan border area to reinforce the Iraqi brigade already stationed there.

In Tel Aviv today, Israel’s Foreign Minister, Mrs Golda Meir, said: “Israel is watching with anxiety developments in Jordan.” Mrs Meir said that so long as events in Jordan preserved a purely internal character they were not Israel’s concern. ‘But should foreign ‘ troops join in the struggle this could adversely affect Israel’s security,” she said. Observers noted that Mrs Meir's statement today, delivered at a public meeting organised by her party, Mapai, was much more restrained in character than the declarations by Israeli leaders last October when Israel claimed to reserve the right of action in the event of Iraqi troops moving to occupy Jordan.