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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - His Majesty King Abdullah II said on Wednesday that Jordan's ability to deal with the influx of Syrian refugees is appreciated by regional and world countries.

The King made the remarks in an interview with NHK Network Anchorman Yoshio Arima on the sidelines of his working visit to Japan, where he noted that people are still staggering that Jordan is still able to survive with a 21 per cent increase in population in 18 months. He said "Take it from a Japanese perspective, if you were in our shoes, how would you be able to do it with the strength of your country. These are the challenges that we are facing today." Japan, King Abdullah affirmed, has been very supportive of Jordan. "We have gotten, I think, up to date, almost $400 million in aid from Japan, which we are very, very grateful for," he said. "But, I think that even in this year, the amount of foreign aid that comes to Jordan and to the UNHCR only amounts up to 29 percent roughly of what is needed for this year. The rest is going to be the burden that we have to find for ourselves." Addressing the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS) and the Kingdom participation in the airstrikes and the next options, King Abdullah said, the coalition is dealing today with airstrikes against IS, adding that is never going to be the full solution. The solution, he said, lies on the ground where in Syria and Iraq, the ability of how to reach out to the locals; how to reach out to the Syrian and Iraqi tribes, empowering them to fight back against ISIS, this is the medium-term concept.

"I want to point out that let’s not feel that this is US-led because this is a US problem. I am alluding to the fact that this is an Arab-Muslim issue, so this is actually in reality an Arab-Muslim coalition because this is our problem," the King affirmed, adding that it is moderation against extremism and a fight inside of Islam, and this is an issue that Arabs and Muslims have to deal with together.

His Majesty also said that focus must not be limited on Syria and Iraq because the problem also is in Libya, there [are] problems in Yemen, Mali and Nigeria. "It is a regional issue and could be a global issue, so you got to concentrate on more than one place. This is why there has to be this global strategic alliance of good against evil," the King said.

Addressing the Japanese and the international community stance on IS, His Majesty the King said there will be discussions with the Japanese government on this issue. Japan is also committed so much aid to support the development of countries throughout the Middle East region. Japan, he added, has a tremendous impact in doing so much good things in the Middle East and Africa and therefore, it is so important to Japan that forces of moderation and good are protected and supported.