Jordan is in a tough spot when it comes to the brutality and chaos playing out next door in Syria. The kingdom is no stranger to refugees. Over the last several decades, waves of Palestinians, then Iraqis and now, Syrians have crossed into Jordan looking for safe haven.
The Syrians I have met in Jordan this week have all expressed deep gratitude for assistance they have received from aid groups and private citizens. They say the Jordanian government is doing its best. Indeed, several Syrians told me they would most definitely be dead if they had not managed to get into Jordan for medical treatment or just to escape the violence.
Some of the men I met yesterday up north, in the Jordanian town Idlib, just across the border from southern Syria, told me their goal is to return home as soon as they can to join rebel forces. These men were mostly working class guys – a farmer, a shopkeeper, a construction worker. I asked if they would plan anti-government operations from Jordanian soil. They said that would not be possible. But they seemed to be conscious of how politically sensitive the question was. The men said they have contacts in Syria with Jordanian mobile phones. That is the only way to communicate with people there. But essentially, they said they would have to return to Syria to join the “Free Syrian Army,” and they had no idea when that might be possible. The men sat in a basement and smoked cigarettes. They sipped tea and watched Al Jazeera, with one of them nursing some nasty wounds including a severed thumb and a giant gash in his thigh, and they asked me: where’s the west? Why isn’t the world coming to the rescue the way they did in Libya?
For its part, Jordan has to deal with whatever Syrian government emerges from the chaos, whether that government is led by Bashar al-Assad or not. King Abdullah was quick to call on Assad to step down. But Jordanian officials are being careful in their public statements on the situation. Yesterday, the foreign minister said military intervention in Syria is a bad idea. At the same time, Jordan is responding to the humanitarian crisis that is spilling across its own borders.
Update: here’s a recent BBC report on the refugee situation in Jordan.
