687 Syrian refugees crossed into Jordan during Eid holiday — UNHCR

AMMAN — The number of Syrian refugees who crossed into Jordan during Eid Al Fitr to escape the violence in their country was less than expected, a UNHCR official said Tuesday.

“Over Eid, we received 687 refugees… almost 100 people per day, which is significantly lower than we were expecting,” Andrew Harper, the UNHCR representative to Jordan, told The Jordan Times. 

The Eid holiday last week was marked by the highest levels of violence in Syria, Harper added.

According to UNHCR figures, so far, the total number of Syrian refugees registered in the Kingdom stands at 606,000 people.

However, there are people still on the borders and “we are contacting the government to make sure they are entering,” Harper said.

In addition, he noted that there are more people arriving from Raqqa in Syria and “many of them are fleeing the violence of the Islamic State… the vast majority of them are entering through eastern borders which makes logistics difficult.”

As for funds received by the UN agency, Harper said the latest contribution was by the US government.

Last week, the US provided $84 million in additional aid for Syrian refugees and host communities in Jordan. The assistance is part of $378 million in new funding for those affected throughout the region by the war in Syria, the US embassy said in a statement issued recently.

“Most of the agencies, including the UNHCR, are working to decrease costs in order not to cut [some] of the services provided for the refugees,” Harper said over the phone.

He called for more funds to Jordan to enable it to handle the high number of refugees.

“If you look at the region, you realise how it is important to support Jordan at this time… we need to be fully supportive of Jordan and the agencies here,” Harper stressed, adding that it is difficult now for both the government of Jordan and relief agencies to continue providing services unless there is more support.

Besides Syrian refugees, the official said there are currently 30,000 Iraqi refugees registered with the UNHCR in Jordan.

Most of those Iraqis entered Jordan two years ago and “registered with us now”, Harper said.