mic.com – Amman, Jordan — A father, reduced to tears, struggles to provide for his family that has been torn apart by war. A mother’s search for urgent medical care for her sick children lasted hours. Hundreds of thousands of refugees fight desperately for their survival, with their past lives lost and dreams for the future shattered.
No, this isn’t the shores of Lesbos, the Greek island that has received the lion’s share of attention when it comes to the Syrian refugee crisis. This is what’s happening in Jordan right now, with minimal fanfare from the international media.
“It’s getting worse,” International Rescue Committee doctor Mohammed Sharadqah, 27, said in an interview in Irbid, a city located in the country’s northern region, just kilometers from the Syrian border. “The refugees who remain in Jordan, five years later, are trapped in war. They are suffering.”
Jordan, a key U.S. ally and a country that has long-enjoyed relative stability in the turbulent Arab world, may not receive the same visibility as countries in Western Europe. But faced with a severe economic downturn and escalating security concerns under the weight of an estimated 1.3 million Syrian refugees who have resettled in the country since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the country is teetering on the brink.
