Iraqi refugees who have just returned from Syria unload their luggage from a bus at al-Walid border crossing, west (Photo: AP)
A top United States (US) official said on Sunday that Washington has given US$100 million in aid to Jordan to help host tens of thousands of Syrians who have fled the unrest back home and taken refuge in the kingdom.
US ambassador to Jordan, E. Jones, said that the US aid will also help Jordan meet its growing energy needs in light of the repeated cut-offs occurring from unstable gas supplies from Egypt.
He said the aid will address 'the strains on the national budget as a result of the repeated disruption of the Egyptian natural gas, and especially the added cost of providing services and basic commodities to those fleeing the appalling violence in Syria.'
'Nowhere outside of Syria are the effects of the Syrian regime's violence felt as acutely as in Jordan,' he said at a joint news conference with Jordanian Planning Minister Jaafar Hassan.
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