ZAATARI REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan: Jordan launched a COVID-19 vaccination drive Monday in its huge Zaatari camp for Syrian refugees, in a world first, a UN spokesman said.
“It’s the first vaccination center in the world to open in a refugee camp,” Mohammad Hawari, spokesman in Jordan of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told AFP.
He said that around 2,000 of the 80,000 residents of Zaatari camp on northern Jordan’s border with Syria had signed up with the government to receive the jab.
Some 1,200 of them qualified under the country’s priority system for health workers, those aged over 65 and those with underlying health conditions.
“Today, 52 refugees will receive the vaccine and another 44 on Tuesday,” said Hawari, adding that 164 camp residents had been vaccinated at a center outside Zaatari.
Jordan hosts 663,000 Syrian refugees registered with the United Nations. It started a campaign of free vaccinations of registered refugees on January 13.
According to health authorities, around 50,000 people have so far been vaccinated in Jordan, which has recorded 347,000 cases and 4,455 deaths out of a population of 10.5 million people.
![]()
Jordan starts ‘world first’ COVID vaccinations in refugee camp
Short Url
https://arab.news/nk9q8
Jordan starts ‘world first’ COVID vaccinations in refugee camp
- It’s the first vaccination center in the world to open in a refugee camp
- Around 2,000 had signed up to receive the jab
RSF drones strike Sudan’s eastern city of Sinja: military source
PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces launched a drone strike Monday on an army base in the southeastern city of Sinja, a military source told AFP.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, said RSF drones “targeted the headquarters of the army’s 17th Infantry Division in Sinja, the capital of Sennar state.”
Since April 2023, the civil war between the army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands and left around 11 million people displaced internally and across borders.
Sennar state has seen relative calm since the army recaptured key Sudanese cities in late 2024 in an offensive that later saw it regain the capital Khartoum.
The Sennar region was last targeted by drones in October.
One resident of Sinja told AFP on Monday that they “heard explosions and anti-aircraft fire.”
Sinja, which is located around 300 kilometers (180 miles) southeast of Khartoum, lies on a road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.
The strike comes a day after the army-aligned government said it had returned to Khartoum following three years operating from its eastern wartime capital of Port Sudan.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, said RSF drones “targeted the headquarters of the army’s 17th Infantry Division in Sinja, the capital of Sennar state.”
Since April 2023, the civil war between the army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands and left around 11 million people displaced internally and across borders.
Sennar state has seen relative calm since the army recaptured key Sudanese cities in late 2024 in an offensive that later saw it regain the capital Khartoum.
The Sennar region was last targeted by drones in October.
One resident of Sinja told AFP on Monday that they “heard explosions and anti-aircraft fire.”
Sinja, which is located around 300 kilometers (180 miles) southeast of Khartoum, lies on a road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.
The strike comes a day after the army-aligned government said it had returned to Khartoum following three years operating from its eastern wartime capital of Port Sudan.
Latest updates
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.