UN aid reaches displaced Syrians via cross-border crane drop

AMMAN, Jordan – U.N. agencies are sending aid to some 50,000 displaced Syrians in a remote desert camp for the first time since June, hoisting supplies by crane across the sealed Jordan-Syria border.

Residents of the Rukban encampment, a majority of them women and children, live in harsh conditions. Food and other staples are in short supply and many can’t afford black market goods.

Jordan sealed the border on security grounds in June 2016, after Islamic State extremists killed seven Jordanian border guards.

The closure severely disrupted aid shipments.

U.N. agencies said Wednesday that the Syrians are in urgent need of aid. Shipments include food, solar lamps, children’s clothes, blankets and bread stoves.

Jordan says the crane-drop is a one-off, and that the U.N. must supply Rukban from Syria.