Obama to hold talks with Jordanian monarch

US President Barack Obama is expected to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House later Friday to discuss regional issues, including the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the international military coalition against the Islamic State.

Jordan is one of five Arab nations to participate in the US-led airstrike campaign against the militants in Syria.

The leaders are also expected to discuss the ongoing civil war in Syria, which has led to a refugee crisis in neighboring Jordan.

Last month, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with the Jordanian monarch as well as with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Amman in efforts to restore calm surrounding tensions at the Temple Mount, after a series of high-profile visits by Knesset members to the site, a spate of terror attacks against Israelis and the attempted assassination of a Temple Mount activist.

Palestinians claim Israel is intent on changing the status quo at the contested site, a charge Jerusalem vehemently denies.

Jews are allowed to visit but forbidden from praying at the Temple Mount, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war, but where it allowed the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf authorities to remain in administrative charge.