Syria refugee crisis worsens

AMMAN: Prime Minister Fayez Tarawaneh said yesterday the growing influx of Syrian refugees to Jordan was “beyond our capabilities,” expecting even more to join the exodus.
“The numbers (of Syrian refugees) are becoming beyond our capabilities, beyond even our expectations and we expect more as things deteriorate in Syria,” he told a joint news conference with visiting Cyprus President Demetris Christofias.
“We are shouldering a big burden in so many fields, especially water.”
Jordan has said it needs $700 million in international aid to cope with an influx of 240,000 refugees from the conflict across the border in Syria.
There are currently 185,000 Syrians in Jordan, with around 26,000 in Zaatari refugee camp, north of Amman, that the UNHCR opened five weeks ago, according to the prime minister.
“I got some messages yesterday and today from our friends regarding the Syrian crisis and the daily needs for the refugees. I promised that I will convey them very soon to the leadership of the European Union for additional assistance to our friends in Jordan,” Christofias said.
Cyprus currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.
“Jordan has already received a large wave of refugees from Syria. The international community, particularly the EU, should extend every possible support to Jordan,” said Christofias.
As calls mount for an end to the bloody violence in Syria, European Union foreign ministers meet today to try and find a way out of a conflict threatening a humanitarian crisis in Europe’s backyard.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has put Syria top of the agenda for a two-day informal ministerial meeting in Cyprus which, at just 110 km from the Syrian coast at its closest point, is the bloc’s nearest member to the conflict.
Ashton’s to-do list calls for improved liaison with the Syrian opposition, more humanitarian aid and, last but not least, preparing for a political transition.
“Sooner or later, Assad will fall and the EU will have to be ready to respond. We must prepare well in advance,” said a European diplomat who asked not to be named.
President Vladimir Putin signaled in an interview aired yesterday that Russia is not ready to shift its stance on Syria, and suggested Western nations were relying on groups such as Al-Qaeda to help drive Assad from power.
Putin was asked whether Moscow should rethink its stance on Syria after vetoing three Western-backed UN Security Council resolutions designed to pressure Assad to end violence that has killed 20,000 people.
“Why should only Russia re-evaluate its position?” he said. “Maybe our partners in the negotiation process should re-evaluate their position.”
“Today somebody is using Al-Qaeda fighters or people from other organizations with the same extreme views to achieve their goals in Syria,” Putin said. “This is a very dangerous and shortsighted policy.”
He noted that the United States had imprisoned many alleged militants at Guantanamo Bay and said it might as well “open the gates to Guantanamo and let all the Guantanamo inmates into Syria, let them fight. It’s the same thing.”
The two kidnapped brothers of a Syrian rebel commander were killed yesterday, a monitoring group said, as battles raged between rebels and army forces in several districts of Damascus.
Amateur video posted on YouTube by activists showed the bodies of the two men, identified as Mohammed and Ahmed Al-Zakh, covered in blood. The head of one of the victims had been partly blown off.