625 Syrian refugees flee to Jordan

At least 625 Syrians have fled violence in their country and crossed into Jordan, Anmar al-Hammoud, the head of the Syrian refugee department in the Jordanian government, said on Friday. The Syrian refugees who crossed the Jordanian border during past week hit 2,651 people, he said. The refugees have been taken to the Zaatari camp, near the Syrian border. Zaatari is located in the province of Mafraq, 85 kilometers north of Amman. Al-Hammoud said that Jordan is now hosting around 535,000 Syrians who have fled two years of conflict in their country, and the number grows every day. Syria has been engulfed by violence since mid-March 2011, with deadly clashes between President Bashar al-Assad's security forces and opposition fighters, leaving thousands of people dead.