(MENAFN- Jordan Times) Jordanian authorities opened on Sunday the country's first Syrian refugee camp in the face of what officials are calling a "humanitarian crisis".
In a ceremony on Sunday, the government and the UN inaugurated the Zaatari camp, a collection of some 2,000 tents on the outskirts of the northeastern city of Mafraq with the capacity to house some 10,000 persons.
During the ceremony, Interior Minister Ghaleb Zu'bi underlined that the camp, designed with an expandable capacity of over 12,000 people, comes as part of Jordan's ongoing humanitarian assistance to displaced Syrians.
Speaking to reporters, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh reiterated that the camp aims to help Jordan cope with the growing number of Syrians fleeing into the Kingdom, which has reached some 2,000 persons per day.
The camp is set to welcome its first batch of some 500 Syrians late Sunday in what relief officials are calling an initial "pilot phase", ahead of a mass transfer of refugees later next month.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, Zaatari's first residents will be Syrians currently residing in the so-called transit facilities - guarded housing complexes where Syrians are hosted as they undergo security background checks - many of whom have been residing "for weeks".
As of the end of this week, all Syrians crossing into Jordan illegally will be forwarded to the Zaatari camp.
Sunday's opening marked a policy shift for Amman, which has long resisted opening a Syrian refugee camp out of fear of worsening already tense ties with Damascus.
In the face of a mass exodus of Syrians into Jordan, raising the refugee influx from 500 to over 1,000 per day, Jordan lifted its reservations, providing the UN and local partners the green light to establish up to 200 camps in the northern region.
With the Zaatari camp now open, relief officials say work is well under way to convert a previously unused facility in Ribaa Sirhan near Mafraq into the country's second Syrian refugee camp, with an expected 1,000-person capacity.
Officials say the camps come as a bid to relieve the stress that the growing refugee population is placing on Jordan, with the presence of over 140,000 Syrians leading to a housing shortage, rising food prices and a costly spike in water demand.
Despite the added burden, Jordan has vowed to maintain its open-border policy.
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