Described by some foreign relief officials as a ‘”five-star camp”, the Emirati-funded operation is a study in contrasts with Zaatari, the chaotic, sprawling UN-run camp that is home to 120,000 and is described as Jordan’s fifth-largest city.
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Jordanian soldiers in riot gear try to keep order in a crowd desperate to get back to Syria. More than 9,000 headed home in June, according to the official Jordanian count.
Deborah Amos reports Jordan as hosting today 500,000 Syrian refugees.
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The UN says nearly 90,000 Syrians have registered with the High Commissioner for Refugees in Egypt.
But the actual number of Syrians who have sought refuge in Egypt is believed to be much higher, in part because the country did not require Syrians to have visas until this week.
AFP. “Syrian refugees to Egypt facing restrictions following unrest.” thejournal.ie., July 9, 2013.
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For Lebanon, UNHCR reports 503,724 registered refugees and an additional 84,071 awaiting registration (“Syria Regional Refugee Response: Lebanon”, viewed today).
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According to figures obtained by Kirisci from government sources, Turkey is currently hosting close to half a million Syrian refugees. As of mid-June, over 200,000 reside in one refugee camp, while nearly 290,000 live outside these camps. Around 100,000 internally placed Syrians are reported to be awaiting entry into Turkey.
Idiz, Semih. “Turkey’s Syria Refugee Crisis.” Turkey Pulse, Al Monitor, July 2, 2013.
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Also Monday, the newly elected head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, Ahmad Jarba, told Reuters news agency he expects advanced weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia to reach rebel fighters soon, strengthening their military position.
VOA News. “Syrian Fighting Intensifies, Rebels Expect Weapons.” July 8, 2013.
The fall last week of President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt prompted a defiant Assad to proclaim the defeat of political Islam. The Brotherhood’s Syrian branch, already under pressure from more radical opposition groups, was dealt a psychological blow that comes on top of delays to promised supplies of weapons from Washington.
Reuters. “Analysis: Confident Assad sees Syria tide turning.” The Jerusalem Post, July 9, 2013.
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Now there’s a picture.
Qatar and Company, heavily backing the Syrian Revolt (so far — Assad’s still in Damascus and his army is still fighting), have also plunged some money into producing a somewhat comfy, modern, and well administered model refugee camp for families (single men have to drift with the riffraff elsewhere) while remaining confident that some adjustment in the arms mix will hasten the end of the Reign of Assad.
Assad himself seems to remain a believer.
I have much, much less confidence in those confident that they will win . . . something.
Within Islam as al-Nusra and others may have it, “winning” will not lead to freedom but rather the imposition of their own sanguine tyranny.
For most involved in developing and sustaining the abysmal crisis in Syria, their history will not be written by “the winners” but rather by dowdy old historians poring over casualty figures, displacements, communique, rhetoric, bank transfers, arms shipments, manufacturer’s labels, newspaper clippings — or online ones like this one — and weighing within their independent souls the various causes and effects.
Some may stumble upon the role language has played in the nightmare, for Syria, perhaps more than in any corresponding contemporary conflict, points out a failing in language and mind by way of the beliefs and rhetoric driving toward so much suffering: that “content of mind” has had little to do with anyone’s day to day experience in living and the many challenges encountered, from making some money to attending to the happiness and security of children.
Instead, black and white thinking, extraordinary greed, unbridled egotism, and magical thinking all look away from the horror created by their possession or diminish the same — more than 90,000 dead, upwards of four million internally displaced or refugee — by way of language attending deflection of responsibility and the denial of the depth of the misery and depravity involved.
Is the good cause Alewite, Shiite, or Sunni?
Is it about cash in the till for a family and everyone else depending on that family be damned?
Is it about nobility?
What matter the purity of the white robes where the soles of the sandals remain always wet with blood?
The civil war, noble cause, revolt, and revolution — all deeply anachronistic, anarchic, confused, disorganized, and disorganizing — will go on.
“Geneva in these circumstances is not possible. If we are going to go to Geneva we have to be strong on the ground, unlike the situation now, which is weak,” al-Jarba said July 7 after returning from the northern Syrian province of Idlib, where he met commanders of rebel brigades.
Huriyet Daily News. “Saudi arms will arrive soon: Syria rebel chief.” July 9, 2013.
Additional Reference
Reuters. “Syrian opposition head expects advanced weapons to reach rebels.” Al Arabiya, July 8, 2013.
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