Jordan to beef up security at Aqsa Mosque amid attacks

Jordan said Wednesday it will step up security at Al Aqsa Mosque, amid increasing raids at the mosque's yards by Israeli forces and radical Israeli settlers and clashes with Muslim worshipers.

The number of guards at the mosque will increase from 300 to 500, Ahmad Ezzat, spokesperson for the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, told Xinhua.

The first batch of about 70 guards will be sent very soon to the mosque, which Jordan oversees along with Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, he said.

Jordan, which reached a peace deal with Israel in 1994, oversees holy sites in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinian envisage as the capital of their future state.

In 2013, Jordan and Palestine signed an agreement under which the Palestinian side "reaffirmed" the status of King Abdullah II of Jordan as the custodian of the holy sites in Jerusalem.

Under the deal, King Abdullah enjoys the "full right to exert all legal efforts to safeguard and preserve [Jerusalem's holy sites], especially Al Aqsa Mosque, defined as the entire Al Haram Al Sharif compound.

Source: XINHUA