(Milan/e.p.) - As thousands of Syrian refugees flee into Jordan, authorities are opening makeshift 'holding facilities' to accommodate them, while Caritas Jordan is distributing food and household items.

According to the Jordan Times, local NGOs and officials say they are set to complete later this month a complex of 200 furnished trailers in Ramtha, a northern Jordanian city, designed to house some 1,000 refugees.

Local charities say 500 refugees are passing through the border each day and the situation is worsening.

The new housing complex will be the third in the northern Jordanian city. Each of them aims to relieve the burden on Jordan's main holding facility at Al Bashabsheh housing complex, a military-guarded compound in Ramtha comprising five apartment buildings that currently house over 2,000 Syrians.

The Jordanian authorities run extensive background checks on the refugees out of fears of attempts by agents of the Syrian regime to infiltrate the Kingdom. The Jordan Times reports they recently foiled an attempt by a Syrian national to poison Al Bashabsheh complex's water supply, the latest in a string of arrests of suspected Syrian "spies".

Syrians recently released from Al Bashabsheh have alleged "difficult" living conditions in the complex, which they say has limited health services and unsanitary living spaces. Dozens of people are said to be sleeping in crowded rooms, stairways or even outside.

The ongoing refugee exodus into the Kingdom of Jordan is continuing in spite of a UN-brokered ceasefire imposed last Thursday with an estimated 3,000 Syrians entering in a 48-hour period.

The Jordanian government has resisted opening refugee camps out of fears of Damascus misinterpreting humanitarian support as support for revolutionaries.

Meanwhile, Caritas Jordan reported at the end of March that around 5,000 Syrian refugees had registered with them, amounting to 900 families. The Church humanitarian federation said about 20 individuals are registering daily with Caritas. “Some are legally staying in Jordan while others managed to jump over the fence and got into the Jordanian territories that way,” said the report.

Caritas is distributing household items in the towns of Ramtha and Mafraq, such as blankets, heaters, bed linens, quilts, towels, plastic mats, sanitary pads, mattresses and jerry cans. It is also bringing food and other items in collaboration with the Mennonite Central Committee.

“Caritas is working throughout the region with Syrian refugees,” the report said.

On Holy Thursday, Pope Benedict XVI asked that the papal Mass collection go to Syrian forced from their homes by the conflict and support the work of Caritas Syria.

© http://www.terrasanta.net/tsx/index.jsp - april 18th 2012