World
At least 17 people were killed and 40 others injured in air strikes on a makeshift camp for internally displaced people along Syria-Jordan border. A senior Western diplomat said the raids on Tuesday were conducted by several Russian jets. Activists claimed that the camp was targeted because it sheltered some of the families whose members were fighting for Asoud Al-Sharqiya, a U.S.-backed rebel group operating out of Jordan.
More than 60,000 people, who have fled conflict in central and eastern Syria, have taken refuge in two major camps set up on a desolate strip, close to where the borders of Iraq, Syria and Jordan converge, notes Al Jazeera. Jordan sealed off its border after an IS suicide bomber drove his vehicle from the Syrian side and blew it up at a Jordanian military base, killing seven border guards last month.
The assault marks the second incident when Russian warplanes have been accused of striking the “far eastern stretch of the Jordanian panhandle,” notes Middle East Eye. In June, Russian fighter jets carried out a wave of air strikes on U.S.-backed New Syrian Army, which is fighting Islamic State in the region.
International relief groups have expressed concern over deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the camps, where refugees have run out of food and other basic supplies.
