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.
Thousands of refugees are packing up their lives and returning from Jordan’s Zaatari camp to Syria—a country that some have never known.
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.
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.
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.
Starting in August, 120,000 Syrians living in Jordan’s refugee camps will lose one third of their World Food Program assistance, the latest in a series of aid cuts amid an “unprecedented funding crisis.”
