AMMAN, Oct 18 (AFP) - Jordan on Monday urged US troops to lift a siege around the Iraqi rebel hub of Fallujah to help ease the humanitarian plight of the city's inhabitants during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"We call on all the parties to lift the siege on Fallujah so that relief and medical teams can enter the city," government spokeswoman Asma Khodr told a weekly news conference.
Relief teams should be able to enter the city, which has been surrounded by more than 1,000 US and Iraqi troops since Thursday, "to provide the population with humanitarian assistance, particularly during this holy month", she said.
US troops have been locked in fighting with rebels in Fallujah, the focus of near nightly US air raids to flush out insurgents. They launched their latest operation on October 14 with a blistering round of air strikes.
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has ordered Fallujans to hand over the Jordanian-born Al-Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted man, or face invasion.
Living conditions have deteriorated along with security in Fallujah, a city of 200,000 people that is often sealed off from the outside world. Residents who have fled the city warn of food shortages and power black-outs.
A no-go zone for foreign reconstruction workers and US military alike, Fallujah has been largely cut off from efforts to improve electricity and water supplies across the rest of Iraq.
An independent assessment of people's living conditions is almost impossible, however, as the foreign aid agencies are also unable to enter due to security fears.
Jordan has a field hospital on the outskirts of the Sunni Muslim city.