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Knocking at the wrong door

Jul 04,2018 - Last updated at Jul 04,2018

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva has issued an appeal to Jordan on Tuesday to open its borders to the displaced Syrians who fled the war in southern Syria in the last few weeks.

In retrospect, the UN human rights agency is knocking on the wrong door in this instance, since Jordan has no longer the capacity to receive any additional Syrian refugees and has made that position loud and clear for the whole world to hear.

Instead of issuing appeals to Jordan to let in more Syrian refugees, the UN human rights office should call on the powers that unleashed the new waves of Syrian refugees, triggered by not honouring their accord with Jordan to keep south of Syria a de-escalation zone, to take immediate measures to end the war.

Jordan cannot let in more Syrian refugees, but is willing to offer them aid and support on Syrian soil to the best of its ability. It is now projected that no less than 300,000 Syrian people would swarm the Jordanian-Syrian frontier in a desperate bid to escape the wrath of the Russian and Syrian aerial bombardments and the ground military advances of the Syrian army.

Letting in more Syrians into Jordan is no longer the solution. As much as Jordan is sympathetic to the cause of the Syrian people, it is simply unable to welcome more of them, especially when its resources are stretched to the limit and some “terrorists" are caught mingling among them wearing women’s clothes.

As His Majesty King Abdullah said at the outset of the crisis, Jordan's priority is its security. The ultimate solution to the plight of the Syrian refugees is obviously ending the fighting. There is no other solution in sight. The major powers in the world, especially Russia and the US, should stop the war in the south of Syria immediately. Short of this, the suffering of the Syrian people can only get worse.

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