More than 30,000 Syrian children are facing starvation in Jordan after authorities in Amman suspended life-saving food and medical aid to refugees living along its northeastern border with Syria.
Between 60,000-70,000 Syrians, mostly women and children, have been denied access to food and safe drinking water during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, a period of fasting from dusk till dawn, after Jordanian authorities blocked emergency aid supplies to an area known as the “berm” last month following an attack by members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.
Shortly after the attack, Jordan declared the porous border area, which houses the sprawling Rukban refugee camp, a “closed military zone“, and warned that any movement in the area would be treated “without leniency”, despite pleas by aid and humanitarian groups that this would put the lives of refugees at risk
At a time of year when temperatures can exceed 35C, Al Jazeera has learned that harsh conditions in the camp have forced some Syrians to head back to Syria.
“We’re getting terrible stories of people deciding to go back into Syria because of the appalling conditions they are facing in this desolate and remote desert area,” Gerry Simpson, a senior refugee researcher and advocate at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera on Friday