Syrian rebels say Russian jets hit refugee camp along Jordan border
AMMAN - Jets believed to be Russian on Tuesday struck a refugee camp along Jordan's north-eastern border with Syria, killing at least 12 people and injuring scores in the first such Russian strike near the Jordanian border, rebels said.
Several jets flying at high altitudes struck at noon a makeshift camp where a few hundred, mostly women and children, are stranded in a no-man's-land on the Syrian side of the border, they said.
The Russian Defense Ministry was not immediately available for comment.
Said Seif al Qalamoni, a rebel spokesman in a brigade that belongs to the Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA), said the raids were close to the Hadalat refugee camp, one of two large camps in the area.
A senior Western diplomat confirmed the incident and said initial information was that several Russian jets conducted the raids.
If confirmed, these would be the closest aerial strikes by Moscow along the Jordanian border since the start of the Kremlin's major aerial bombing campaign last September in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad against insurgents battling to topple his rule.
