Jordan suffers huge losses due to Syrian conflict

As the Syrian conflict has been ongoing for almost three years, Jordan appealed for more international aid to handle continued influx of Syrians fleeing the unrest in their country as some Syrian refugees living in Jordan dream of returning home. Since the start of the unrest in Syria early 2011, Jordan has been supportive of a political solution to end the cycle of bloodshed in the violence-stricken country, warning that military clashes will not only divide the country, but will also cause a humanitarian disaster as millions of Syrians have already fled their houses. Jordan, which is already home to 1.3 million Syrians who fled into the country since early 2011, is anxious about the continued violence in Syria, which have already caused huge losses to the Jordanian economy. The crisis forced over a million Syrians to seek refuge in Jordan, pressuring the already-limited water, energy, infrastructure and other resources in Jordan. "Jordan has been repeatedly calling for a political solution to address the crisis in Syria to help restore the country's stability and security. We were negatively affected by the crisis, which placed pressure on the education, health, energy, water, security and infrastructure in the Kingdom," a government official told Xinhua. "Jordan needs more international aid to deal with the already existing number of Syrian refugees," the official said. Out of the 1.3 million Syrians who fled to Jordan about 600,000 were registered as Syrian refugees with UN agencies. The cost of hosting Syrian refugees in the country stands at about 2.1 billion U.S. dollars for 2013 and the volume is expected to rise to 3.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2014, Jordan's Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani said. Jordan only received 800 million U.S. dollars from the international community to help in providing services for Syrian refugees, Momani said. Moreover, the army said it seized about 900 weapons, 6 million drug pills and 24 vehicles as some groups were trying to smuggle them from Syria into Jordan. In spite of all these challenges and the continued violence in Syria, some refugees in the Zaatari Camp, which is Jordan's largest camp for Syrian refugees, are hopeful to return home. "No matter how long it takes, I will return with my family to my hometown. I am here with my family of five because of the violence. I am confident the violence will end one day and we will all return home," said Salman.