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STORY: JORDAN-SYRIA / BORDER CROSSING
TRT: 3.46
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 4 FEBRUARY 2013, ZARQA, JORDANIAN / SYRIAN BORDER
4 FEBRUARY 2013, ZARQA, JORDAN
1. Tracking shot, Syrian refugee woman pulling her suitcase
2. Med shot, soldier assisting woman in putting her bags into bus
3. Med shot, Syrian refugees getting onto bus
4. Med shot, man pushing a boy in wheelchair
5. Med shot, a stretcher with a patient being pulled of an ambulance
6. Med shot, soldiers standing by ambulance
7. Wide shot, mother pulling crying child away
8. Med shot, Abu Ali, Syrian refugee from Damascus
9. Med shot, boy sitting on woman’s lap
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abu Ali (55), Syrian refugee from Damascus:
"It was very difficult to cross the border because of the snipers, there was a lot of them around. We had to walk carefully.”
11. Close up, shoes of boy and woman
12. Med shot, boy sitting on woman’s lap
13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abu Ali (55) Syrian refugee from Damascus:
"We didn't leave at our own will. We had no choice, if we hadn't left we would have died."
14. Wide shot, Syrian refugees ushered into a tent by soldiers
15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hamde Al-Safadi (95), Syrian refugee from Daara:
"I never wanted to leave, but soldiers came and burnt our houses. They attacked us also from the air."
16. Med shot, Andrew Harper entering tent
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Andrew Harper, UNHCR's Representative to Jordan:
“What we are hearing at the moment, we are going to see entire villages probably coming over in the near future. People are giving up hope in certain parts of Daara. Like the woman, I was just talking with, is 95 years old. Who’s 95 and decides to leave the country?”
18. Med shot, boy dragging bag
19. Various shots, adults and children entering tent
20. Tracking shot, soldier handing a bidon of water
21. Med shot, family sitting on the floor of the tent
22. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ghaleb Al-Hamaideh, Brigadier General of Jordanian Border Guard:
"The Syrian army is firing onto the refugees on their way here. If the shooting is closed to them, people rather turn back, but if they are very near to the borderline they just continue their journey and cross. We can't intervene. Only we are able to help them if they manage to enter in our soil."
23. Close up, woman alone
24. Close up, woman's hands
25. Med shot, woman's face again
26. Med shot, boy in wheel chair by Andrew Harper
27. SOUNDBITE (English) Andrew Harper, UNHCR's Representative to Jordan:
“We got the capacity, we got the space, we got the willingness from a very generous government, generous people. But we need to put the money into the health care, into the education side, into the sheltering, into the food and water, because providing support for over 300,000 people takes a lot of resources. And we could look into 500,000 in a month or two. We could look into 700,000. So we need that money now, so we’d be better prepared.”
28. Wide shot, exterior of tent at night
29. Med shot, guard going up stairs
30. Wide shot, women, men and children refugees walking down a path in the night
For weeks now they have been arriving by the thousands.
On this night over 3000 Syrian refugees cross into Jordan.
Those who can walk carry a few possessions, others help those who can’t.
Some arrive injured and in need of medical attention like this elderly man.
For most, their flight from a country at war has been traumatic.
Abu Ali walked ten days with his family from Damascus.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abu Ali (55), Syrian refugee from Damascus:
"It was very difficult to cross the border because of the snipers; there were a lot of them around. We had to walk carefully.”
They left because of death threats at home, says Abu Ali, but faced dangers all along the way.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abu Ali (55) Syrian refugee from Damascus:
"We didn't leave at our own will. We had no choice, if we hadn't left we would have died."
Tonight’s exodus includes young and old.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hamde Al-Safadi (95), Syrian refugee from Daara:
"I never wanted to leave, but soldiers came and burnt our houses. They attacked us also from the air."
UNHCR is assisting the Jordan government in looking after the refugees.
SOUNDBITE (English) Andrew Harper, UNHCR's Representative to Jordan:
“And what we are hearing at the moment, we are going to see entire villages probably coming over in the near future. People are giving up hope in certain parts of Daara. Like the woman, I was just talking with, is 95 years old. Who’s 95 and decides to leave the country?”
The new arrivals are taken to a shelter tent erected by Jordanian border guards. Here they get basics like water and blankets. Then they will be taken to Za’atri Refugee Camp.
The border guards are all too aware of the dangers the refugees face.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ghaleb Al-Hamaideh, Brigadier General of Jordanian Border Guard:
"The Syrian army is firing at the refugees on their way here. If the shooting is closed to them, people turn back, but if they are very near to the borderline they just continue their journey and cross. We can't intervene. Only we are able to help them if they manage to enter in our soil."
This elderly Syrian woman is safe now but she has been separated from her family. She is not even sure if they were able to get across.
The scale of the people crossing means that the needs only grow.
SOUNDBITE (English) Andrew Harper, UNHCR's Representative to Jordan:
“We got the capacity, we got the space, we got the willingness from a very generous government, generous people. But we need to put the money into the health care, into the education side, into the sheltering, into the food and water, because providing support for over 300,000 people takes a lot of resources. And we could look into 500,000 in a month or two. We could look into 700,000. So we need that money now, so we’d be better prepared.”
Suddenly the border lights are shut down. A border guard climbs in a watch tower - there is a security threat.
But more refugees come across.
UNHCR has predicted that within the coming months there could be a million Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq people who did not want to leave their country but had to.
