As Syrian refugees leave Zaatari, some bring their ‘caravans’ with them
Some Syrians returning from Jordan to Daraa use caravans smuggled out of Zaatari camp as temporary shelters while they work to rebuild their destroyed homes.
27 08, 2025
21 08, 2025
The Return: ‘A Room of My Own’ (Photos)
Thousands of refugees are packing up their lives and returning from Jordan’s Zaatari camp to Syria—a country that some have never known.
20 08, 2025
The Return: ‘The Time Has Come’ (Photos)
Syrian refugees who built lives in Jordan are packing up and starting over, as rising costs of living and aid cuts push them to return home—despite the hardships waiting on the other side of the border.
7 01, 2025
Zaatari camp’s economy collapses with the fall of the Assad regime
The Zaatari refugee camp’s bustling economy ground to a halt when the Assad regime fell. Local shopkeepers say the value of their businesses has collapsed as residents uncertain about their future in Jordan save money and only buy necessities.
2 01, 2025
Relatively few Syrians in Jordan risk one-way trip home
Only 3,106 Syrian refugees out of 717,000 registered with the UN in Jordan have returned to Syria since Assad fell, as crossing the border is a one-way trip to a country that is not yet stable.
23 04, 2024
Syrians arrested amid Gaza protests face deportation from Jordan
Atia Abu Salem, a Syrian refugee in Jordan arrested on his way to a pro-Gaza demonstration this month, is facing deportation. The families of “many Syrians” among the more than 1,500 people detained amid recent protests are keeping quiet, afraid of “escalation.”
5 04, 2024
Aid cuts leave Ramadan tables sparse in Jordan’s Zaatari camp
Syrians in Zaatari, the world’s largest Syrian refugee camp, are struggling to make ends meet this Ramadan after the World Food Program cut their food assistance by about a third last year due to funding shortfalls.
29 03, 2024
Communities in southern Syria take on the drug trade
Communities and local armed groups in Syria’s southern Suwayda and Daraa provinces are taking the fight against drug traffickers and smugglers into their own hands. With Damascus and Hezbollah profiting from the trade, they face an uphill battle.
26 03, 2024
How Suwayda became a drug-smuggling hub
In Syria’s southern Suwayda province, suspected Jordanian airstrikes hunt drug traffickers and kill civilians. Regime-linked gangs operate with impunity and smugglers ferry drugs over the border. Local armed groups fight back. How did we get here?
18 01, 2024
On Tehran’s radar: Jordan confronts growing drug threat on northern border with Syria
Escalating Jordanian military operations along—and across—its northern border with Syria signal a retreat from Amman’s “soft diplomacy” policy towards Damascus, accompanied by a growing sense of Iranian efforts to spread chaos within the country’s territory.