Authorities transferred some 450 Syrians on Monday, including 150 Palestinian refugees from Syria, to a new facility, designed to receive up to 1,000 persons (JT file photo)

RAMTHA — Jordanian authorities have opened a third holding facility for Syrian refugees amid an ongoing influx of Syrians carrying stories of kidnappings and killings.

Jordan opened this week a facility in the Cyber City, an industrial complex on the edge of the border city of Ramtha, to relieve the growing stress on a housing complex that has long served as a transit point for illegal arrivals.

According to a security source, authorities transferred some 450 Syrians on Monday, including 150 Palestinian refugees from Syria, to the new facility, designed to receive up to 1,000 persons.

The industrial centre is to serve as an eventual replacement to the so-called Al Bashabsheh housing complex, a collection of five apartment buildings in the border city that has served as the main holding facility for illegal arrivals over the last year, at times housing up to 2,500 Syrians in “harsh” conditions.

With private rooms, mobile clinics and even a children’s playground, Cyber City’s temporary residents say the new facility is a world away from the “over-cramped” housing complex.

“For the first time in a long while, I feel like a person and not a refugee,” said Um Samer, who arrived at Cyber City on Tuesday after spending two months at Al Bashabsheh.

Yousef Mahmoud, a 65-year-old Palestinian refugee, said the new facility is a welcome departure from Al Bashabsheh, where he claims he spent one month sharing a windowless room with 15 fellow Syrians.

In addition to Cyber City, authorities are transferring Syrians to a makeshift camp at Prince Hashem Sports City stadium, ahead of the opening of a permanent facility in Ramtha’s King Abdullah Park consisting of some 200 fully furnished trailers designed to accommodate up to 1,000 refugees.

Although Jordan follows an open-border policy, security services transfer all illegal arrivals to the so-called holding facilities to run extensive background checks.

The release of illegal arrivals depends on a financial guarantee signed by a Jordanian national accepting legal responsibility for the refugee during his or her stay in the Kingdom, a condition that can extend refugees’ stay at the facilities for weeks.

Game of life or death

The opening of the new transfer facilities comes amid an ongoing exodus of Syrian civilians to Jordan, which, according to security and relief sources, has reached “hundreds” per day.

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