Saudi group to set up refugee camp in Kilis

RIYADH

Syrian refugees look out from their tent at a refugee camp in Mafraq city, Jordan. REUTERS photo

A Saudi charity group will build a container city that can house 10,000 Syrian refugees in Kilis province near the border, a Turkish official said on Sept. 29.

The project of the Saudi National Campaign to Support Brothers in Syria is expected to be ready within a month, the official told Agence France-Presse. When opened, it will be the second camp in Kilis, already home to the largest container city for 12,000 refugees.

Iraq to stop Iran flights

The Saudi organization will also set up a prefabricated hospital, said the official, declining to give funding figures. The kingdom has taken a strong stance against the escalating bloodshed in Syria and thrown support behind the Syrian opposition. Turkey shelters nearly 90,000 registered refugees in several camps.

Meanwhile, Iraq will ask Syria-bound Iranian planes passing through its airspace to land for random inspections after Washington said they could be ferrying arms to Damascus, the Iraqi foreign minister said in an interview.

U.S. officials had raised their concerns over the past few days on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York, Hoshiyar Zebari told the London-based al-Hayat newspaper, Reuters reported. “We have informed Mrs. [U.S. Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton and U.S. officials that the government plans to bring planes down and conduct random inspections,” said Zebari confirming he was referring to Iranian planes.