'No intention to move Zaatari, Azraq camps'

AMMAN — There is no intention to move the Zaatari and Azraq refugee camps to the Rweished region, the government affirmed on Wednesday.

Brig. Gen. Wadah Hmoud, director of the Syrian Refugee Affairs Directorate, refuted as baseless news reports claiming that a study is under way to move the country's two largest refugee camps to Rweished, about 240km east of Amman,.

"There is no intention to relocate the two refugee camps, which have all the necessary infrastructure and services to meet the needs of Syrian refugees," the Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted Hmoud as saying. 

Earlier this month, the Azraq Refugee Camp marked its first anniversary since its official inauguration in May 2014. Located 100km east of Amman and 20km west of the town of Azraq in Zarqa Governorate, the camp now houses 18,000 Syrians. 

A total of 628,000 Syrians are registered as refugees with UNHCR in Jordan, 83 per cent of whom live outside camps. 

In addition to Azraq, other camps in Jordan include Zaatari, which houses over 83,500 refugees, and Mreijeb Al Fhoud where more than 5,500 Syrians reside.