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Declassified: Jordan urged Israel to bomb Syria

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January 3, 2001 

LONDON-- (UNB/AP) - King Hussein of Jordan called for an Israeli air strike on Syrian troops during the 1970 Black September clashes between Jordanian army troops and Palestinian guerrillas, according to British documents declassified Tuesday.

It is widely known that Hussein, who died of cancer in 1999, had asked for Israeli military support because Israeli and other regional radios - which Jordanians heavily depended on during the two-week civil war - had broadcast the Jordanian request.

Government officials and the late king himself had refused to confirm or deny the radio reports at the time.

Cut off from direct contact with the United States and Israel while fending off the Palestinians and a Syrian incursion, Hussein sent a plea for air support via the British Embassy in Amman, according to a summary of a Sept. 21, 1970 Cabinet meeting.

Israel never carried out the requested attack.

"A series of messages had been received from King Hussein of Jordan, reflecting the extreme anxiety with which he now regarded the situation," stated the secret report, declassified under the 30-year rule of the Public Records Act of 1967.

Stating the information "should on no account be disclosed," the report said that Hussein "not only appealed for the moral and diplomatic support of the United Kingdom and the United States, coupled with the threat of international action, but had also asked for an air strike by Israel against Syrian troops."

A separate request was received by the United States through other channels, the report said.

The Black September crisis, sparked by a series of airliner hijackings by Palestinian militants, caused the deaths of some 2,000 people in 13 days of fighting.

Palestinian forces, initially allowed by Hussein to shelter in Jordan, began taking control of parts of the country. Jordanian forces attempted to expel the guerrillas, and Syria sent troops to support the rebels.

While Israel never directly intervened, the Palestinians accused Israel of supplying arms to the Jordanians to help expel the guerrillas.

A Sept. 27 truce brokered in Cairo led to the Palestinians' withdrawal.

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On the Net:

http://www.pro.gov.uk/releases