4-year-old Syrian refugee found alone in desert

A 4-year-old Syrian refugee who was discovered alone in the middle of the desert was reunited with his family across the border in Jordan, a United Nations official said Sunday.

The boy, Marwan, had apparently become separated from his mother when he was spotted by humanitarian workers for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. According to the group, the boy was carrying a small plastic bag.

Andrew Harper, a UNHCR representative to Jordan, tweeted a photo of the unusual discovery.

“Marwan was safely reunited w his mother soon after being carried across the #Jordan border,” Harper later tweeted.
The boy is one of more than a million child refugees to flee Syria since the three-year-old conflict began. Overall, more than two million people have fled the war-torn nation, with many flooding into Jordan.

Earlier Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry blasted Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime for stalling peace talks and exacerbating the civil war.

“The regime stonewalled," Kerry said during a stop in Jakarta. "They did nothing except continue to drop barrel bombs on their own people and continue to destroy their own country. And I regret to say they are doing so with increased support from Iran, from Hezbollah and from Russia.

“Russia needs to be a part of the solution," Kerry continued, "and not be contributing so many more weapons and so much more aid that they are in effect enabling Assad to double-down, which is creating an enormous problem.”