The World - News from June 29, 1987

Syria, aided by the Soviet Union, appears to be engaged in a major project to divert the waters of the Yarmuk River, threatening Jordan’s main farming area, Israeli Agriculture Minister Arye Nehemkin said. “If reports . . . are correct, the project poses a grave threat to Jordan because all the agriculture on the Jordanian side of the Jordan Valley is based on water from the Yarmuk,” a tributary of the Jordan River, he said on state radio. A senior Western diplomat in Tel Aviv said the United States is very concerned with the issue and is seeking a solution.