Dozens dead in air strike on camp for displaced Syrians

The Hadalat camp itself is a makeshift camp for hundreds of would-be refugees stuck at the Jordan border when Jordan stopped letting people in.

Warplanes believed to be Russian struck a refugee camp along Jordan’s north-eastern border with Syria, a Jordanian source told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

If confirmed, these would be the closest aerial strikes by Moscow along the Jordanian border since the start of the Kremlin’s major aerial bombing campaign last September in support of Syrian President Bashar al Assad against insurgents battling to topple his rule.

The attack took place in area of Hadalat, one of several small camps that have been set up to accommodate refugees refused entry to Jordan.

USA -backed rebels based in the Syrian border town of Tanf, further north-east, periodically clash with Islamic State militants who have a presence in the vast sparsely populated south-eastern Syria desert. The source added that intelligence suggested Russian Federation was responsible, though the country is yet to comment on the raid.

Activists said that the camp was targeted because some people there have family members who belong to Asoud Al-Sharqiya, a US-backed rebel group operating out of Jordan.

“They (Jordanian government) won’t allow us to create structures that are necessary for us to screen people for the distribution”, Cousin said.

Jordan sealed the border area, known as the berm because of an earthen mound marking the frontier, after a June 21 suicide attack claimed by the extremist Islamic State group killed seven Jordanian troops and wounded 13.

US -backed rebels based in the Syrian border town of al-Tanf, further north-east, periodically clash with Islamic State militants who have a presence in the vast sparsely populated south-eastern Syria desert.