Jordan braces itself for influx of Syrian refugees

Number of Syrian refugees Jordan is bracing itself for the potential influx of hundreds of thousands of Syrians amid a recent surge of violence which have resulted in an increase of the numbers of the Syrian refugees crossing into Jordan's northern borders every day.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Tuesday visited the Syrian refugees' camps in Jordan, where the Syrians urged him to do "anything to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad."
"We do not want food or water, we do not want money. We just want you to get rid of Bashar," some of them chanted as Hague and Jordanian foreign minister Nasser Judeh toured Ramtha's Bashabsheh housing complex, a military-guarded compound that houses around 1,000 Syrian refugees.
Hague, the highest senior British official to visit the refugees in Jordan, described the unrest in Syria as "horrible."
"It is horrible to hear about the events happening [in Syria] from people here, many of them crossing the borders," Hague said. "Tanks, bombardment from the air, every kind of heavy weaponry [is being used] against the civilian population."
Hague and Judeh spoke to some wounded Syrians and their children at a playground before visiting UN offices to examine the refugee registration procedure.
Later in Amman, Hague and Judeh discussed the unrest in Syria in a meeting before holding a joint press conference.
Jordan is currently hosting more than 140,000 Syrians and is building several refugee camps for them as the violence intensifies.
Observers estimate that more than 17,000 people have been killed since the anti-regime uprising in Syria broke out in March 2011.
According to a Jordanian government source, officials are preparing for the potential arrival of up to one million Syrians as part of several contingency plans should the security situation across Jordan's northern border deteriorate further.
Meanwhile, Jordanian police on Wednesday uncovered a suspected explosive device found under the car of a Syrian refugee camp owner in the border city of Ramtha, a security source told Arabstoday.
The owner, Nidal Bashabsheh told police that he and his family first suspected something was wrong early Wednesday morning, after they approached their car to find four young men tampering with his automobile and running away immediately after they were caught.  On colder inspection, Bashabsheh found a box placed under his vehicle and immediately called the police to examine it.
After a thorough inspection by bomb experts, police said the box contained only a satellite receiver device, and not an explosive.