Jordan hit hard in all aspects due to Syrian refugee crisis

The Syrian crisis placed heavy pressure on all aspects of life and economic sectors in Jordan, which forced Jordan to regulate and to some extent reduce the entry of Syrians into the country.

However, Jordan's Minister of State Mohammad Momani said there is no change in the kingdom's policy towards the Syrian refugees and stressed that the borders will remain open to those fleeing the conflict in their country.

"The entry of Syrian refugees is through the Jordan Armed Forces that conduct security screening on them to preserve Jordan's security. In addition, Jordan takes the humanitarian cases into account," the minister said in an interview with Xinhua.

Over the past few months, Jordan reduced the number of Syrians allowed in to around 60 refugees per day, especially after more than 23,000 refugees came to the no man's land between Jordan and Syria and are still stranded on the borders. Jordan said the majority of those stranded came from areas that are under the control of the terrorist Islamic State (IS) group.

After the number of those stranded reached 60,000 recently, Jordan started to allow around 300 refugees to enter the Kingdom per day, especially after the sudden increase in number of Syrians seeking refuge in Jordan.

The minister said in earlier remarks that Jordan resorted to reducing the number of Syrians allowed in as many who came to Jordan were living in areas under the control of the IS.

The influx of Syrian refugees increased burden on several sectors including health, education, infrastructure and increased cost of renting houses and affected jobs available for Jordanians, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury told Xinhua.

The Syrians in Jordan represent about 19 percent of the population at present, according to Fakhoury who added that only 10 percent of the Syrian refugees in Jordan live in camps, while the rest live in Jordanian cities and towns thus placing pressure on all resources.

He added that there are more than 143,000 Syrian students at the country's public schools and there are around 90,000 who are in the age of going to school but do not go to them. He added that the public schools will be able to accept 50,000 more students between 2016-2017 due to the support of several donor countries.

The government, he said, provided medical services for more than 611,000 Syrian refugees in 2015, which negatively affected the level of services and placed pressure on the budget. In addition, rents of houses rose by 200-300 percent after the Syrian refugees influx, said Fakhoury, adding that the Syrians placed pressure on the water sector in Jordan, which is one of the poorest countries in terms of water.

The influx of Syrians also affected the labor market in Jordan amidst high unemployment among Jordanians, said Fakhoury, referring to support donor countries pledged for Jordan at a donors conference in London early this year.

Jordan secured around 1.7 billion U.S. dollars in grants and grant equivalents for its Syrian refugee response plan for 2016 and the coming two years at the London conference.

Jordan is home to around 1.3 million Syrians, according to official figures.

According to Saber Mahayreh, the commander of the Jordan Border Guard, the influx of Syrians was also coupled with increased attempts to infiltrate into Jordan in addition to attempts to smuggle drugs into the Kingdom.

Syrian refugees cost the army alone around 1.7 billion U.S. dollars since 2011 to date. Endit