When the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, thousands of Syrian refugees began to flood into neighboring Jordan. By the end of the following year, the number of refugees had reached 150,000; a year later, it was one-half million. There are currently at least 1 million Syrian refugees in Jordan.
A senior Jordanian military official told me shortly after the start of the Syrian uprising that most of the refugees were poor and uneducated, creating a major economic burden on his country. He added that some unknown number of the refugees were actually extremists who sympathized with those who wished to topple the regime of King Abdullah II.
Jordan continues to confront a massive economic challenge, particularly with respect to healthcare and education. Fortunately — thanks in part to economic assistance from friendly states, including the U.S. — the government somehow continues to cope. It has also managed to thwart any threats to its governance, as the Hashemite leadership has overcome numerous times over the past three-quarters of a century, beginning with the 1951 assassination of King Abdullah I. The latest turn in the Syrian conflict may pose the most serious threat to the government since its 1970 Black September conflict with the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
The latest turn in the Syrian civil war could result in a new influx of refugees not only into Jordan but neighboring Lebanon and Iraq as well. David Carden, the U.N.’s deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, stated this week that “more than 115,000 people have........