Syrian refugees fleeing to Jordan double: UN

Syrian refugee children, who fled to Jordan with their families, eat apples as part of a game while they enjoy a day on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr at an amusement park in Amman Aug 25, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

UNITED NATIONS - The number of Syrian refugee arrivals in the Za'atri camp in Jordan has doubled in the last week, and "a much larger influx" of refugees is expected in the coming days, a UN spokesman said here on Tuesday.

"The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says that the pace of arrivals from the Syrian border to the Za'atri camp in the north of Jordan has doubled in the past week, from 4,500 a week ago to 10,200 people arriving in the seven days between Aug 21 and 27," spokesman Farhan Haq said at a daily news briefing. "More than 22, 000 people have been received at Za'atri since it opened on July 30."

The refugees are arriving mainly from the governorate of Daraa in southwestern Syria, including the villages of Mahjeh, Kherbet Ghazala, Tafas, Dael, Hrak, Al Sawar (also known as Sura), Msefria and Hayt, media reports said.

"Refugees say that many thousands more people are waiting to cross, following violence around Daraa, and the Refugee Agency says that this could be the start of a much larger influx," Haq noted.

"The Refugee Agency has received in the camp over the past week an increased number of unaccompanied children," the spokesman said. "Some children report that their parents have died, or are staying behind in Syria to look after relatives, while others said they were sent ahead of their parents, who will follow later."

UNHCR, along with its partner -- the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization, is struggling to meet the needs of the new arrivals, expanding the camp and providing food, water and health care as quickly as possible, UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.

"We are urgently pitching more tents and expanding the camp," she said. "Seventeen trucks have been dispatched from our regional warehouse in Zarqa to reinforce stocks of tents and blankets."