* Camp is located near Syria-Jordan border
* Facility is first of kind in Jordan
* Tens of thousands of Syrians have fled to Jordan
ZAATARI, Jordan, July 29 (Reuters) - Jordan braced on Sunday
for an expected new influx of refugees from the fighting in
Syria by opening a camp with 2,000 tents to accommodate them
near the border.
Diplomats say around 115,000 Syrians have fled their
country, mostly to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, to escape the
17-month rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad.
The Jordanian authorities say around 130,000 Syrians have
come to Jordan since the uprising began, but diplomats say not
all of them are classified as refugees.
"We can only expect that more people will be coming across,
more people who will be in need of assistance," Andrew Harper,
representative for the United Nations Higher Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) in Jordan, said at the camp's opening.
"We are seeing women and children without their husbands,
without their fathers, coming across the border," Harper said at
the still-empty camp, the first to become operational for Syrian
refugees, near the town of Mafraq, about 10 km (six miles) from
the Syrian border.
Tens of thousands of Syrians have fled to Jordan through
official border points or clandestinely crossed the mostly
desert frontier.
Most have found accommodation on their own, or through
Islamist charities and compatriots who had fled an earlier wave
of repression by Assad's father, the late President Hafez
al-Assad, in the 1980s.
Syrian troops have tried to prevent refugees from crossing
by mining parts of the border, and in some cases, shooting at
fleeing civilians, which has prompted Jordan to send armoured
reinforcements to the frontier.
Diplomats say there have been several instances of Jordanian
and Syrian forces exchanging fire following the killing of
refugees who had attempted to cross as they were in the
"no-man's land" between the two countries.
(Reporting by Mohammad al-Ramahi; Editing by Michael Roddy)