Jordan agrees to aid delivery for Syrians blocked at border

Jordan has agreed to a one-off aid delivery to more than 100,000 Syrians blocked in the desert no-man's land on its northeastern border, the UN said Tuesday (July 12th).

Jordan closed the border to would-be refugees and aid agencies after a June 21st suicide bombing claimed by the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) killed seven Jordanian soldiers near the makeshift desert camp.

UN World Food Programme executive director Ertharin Cousin told AFP the organisation will create "packages that will include food as well as non-food items that we will get to the people".

Details of the aid delivery were still being worked out with the UN Children's Fund and the International Organisation for Migration, she said, and she could give no firm date for it.

The delivery is a one-time intervention, she said.

On Tuesday, armed forces chief Gen. Meshaal Mohamed al-Zaban reiterated at a meeting attended by the WFP director that the border would remain closed, stating that the kingdom's security is an "absolute priority".

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