On 26 June 2018, United Nations (UN) agencies report that 45,000 civilians have fled the intensified regime attacks in the Southern province of Deraa, Syria towards the border with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The ferocity of the assaults recalls the one of Eastern Ghouta that this spring resulted in 1,500 civilians killed. So far, 27 people have been killed in Deraa and more than 100 wounded according to Al Jazeera.
Despite the gravity of the situation, Jordan’s Minister of State Affairs Jumana Ghanimat declared that the country will be unable to host more refugees. According to UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR), Jordan is the country with the second highest share of refugees in the world relative to population, after Lebanon. The Minister declared to the Jordan Time that the country will not abandon the humanitarian duty towards those who are already in the country, but that Jordan already has a large number of refugees and that “simply cannot receive more.”
Jordan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi added that the solution has to be political and the focus must be on reaching an agreement. In fact, diplomatic efforts are now in motion for reaching a negotiated settlement for the Southwest in the framework of the de-escalation agreement signed in 2017 between Russia, United States and Jordan. The talks aim at avoiding further regime assaults that Assad announced in case those talks failed.
To know more, please read:
https://www.albawaba.com/news/jordan-minister-says-kingdom-cant-accept-more-syrian-refugees-1149716
https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/FactSheetJordanFebruary2018-FINAL_0.pdf
