Syria to provide Jordan water

The Syrian Water Minister, Taha al-Atrash, has said that his country will provide Jordan with three-and-a-half million cubic meters of water this summer.

Mr Atrash said that the water would be pumped over the next two months to help prevent drought in Jordan.

His Jordanian counterpart, Hatem Halwani, said that construction would begin soon on the Al-Wahdeh Dam on the Yarmuk river in the north.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service