Jordan said Monday (October 10th) it will allow aid deliveries to thousands of refugees trapped near its border with Syria, which has been closed since a deadly attack on soldiers in June, AFP reported.
"In the coming weeks we will resume allowing humanitarian organisations to deliver aid to those stranded on the border," said government spokesman Mohamed Momani.
The UN said in September that more than 70,000 Syrians were trapped in no-man's land near the Rukban border crossing in "dire" conditions.
Jordan closed its entire desert border with Syria and Iraq, preventing aid deliveries, after a suicide bombing killed seven of its soldiers near the Rukban crossing on June 21st.
The "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) claimed the blast, and Jordanian officials said the bomber had come from a camp just across the border.
Since June, Jordan has allowed humanitarian organisations to send aid to the refugees just once, in early August, lifting it across the frontier using drones and cranes.
Momani said Monday the government would allow humanitarian organisations to deliver aid by the same method, to be received and distributed by "elders and mayors" on the Syrian side.
The move is a temporary measure, he said, adding that "the borders will remain a closed military zone".
