Prince Hamzah bin Hussein Army. On 7 February 1999 King Hussein died and his eldest son Prince Abdullah bin Hussein acceded to the throne of Jordan, having two weeks previously been designated to succeed his father as ruler in place of the king's brother, Crown Prince Hassan bin Talal. On the same day, in compliance with his father's wish, King Abdullah II decreed that he, in turn, would be succeeded not by a son of his own but by his half-brother, Prince Hamzah, who was therefore accorded the title of crown prince. Nearly six years later, on 28 November 2004, King Abdullah removed Hamzah
Hussein of Jordan majority, despite calls by Jordan's foreign minister Marwan Al-Kasim that this move would hinder Hussein's efforts to reach a peaceful resolution. Both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia viewed Hussein with suspicionthey distrusted him and believed he was planning to obtain a share of Kuwait's wealth. On 6 August American troops arrived at the Kuwait-Saudi Arabian border, Saddam's conditions were ignored, and Hussein's role as mediator was undermined. Saddam then announced that his invasion had become "irreversible", and on 8 August he annexed Kuwait. Jordan, along with the international community, refused to recognize the Iraqi-installed regime in Kuwait. The United States, seeing