Ammon News - By Taylor Luck/ Jordan Times

AMMAN — Dozens of Syrians fled to Jordan early Sunday as rising violence across southern Syria stranded hundreds along the shared border.

According to the Jordan Armed Forces, some 270 Syrians crossed into Jordan early Sunday — down from 700 on Saturday and well below a daily average that has hovered around 2,000 persons for most of this year.

Meanwhile, hostilities in the area stretched into their second week, blocking off traditional crossing routes from southwestern Syria and reportedly forcing hundreds of refugees to take more arduous, eastern desert routes.

“For many families, crossing into Jordan is no longer an option,” said Abu Mohammad Al Jassemi, one of hundreds who have completed a several-day journey to the Kingdom via the desert routes near Iraq over the past week.

“If you can’t walk for many kilometres or stand the heat, there is no way you can make it,” added Jassemi, who entered Jordan with his wife and five children on Friday.

Rebel officials confirmed that as of Sunday, only “vital transit routes” into southwest Syria remained open, restricted for the movement of Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters and light arms supplies.

“Until the regime lessens its offensive or we receive anti-aircraft missiles, we cannot guarantee the safety of refugees,” said Abu Mohammed Al Naimi, an FSA commander whose battalion is currently located north of the city of Daraa.

Rebel officials and local residents claim that intensifying clashes and shelling had stranded some 3,000 displaced Syrians along the border with Jordan as of late Sunday.

Jordan has opened its borders to over 560,000 Syrians since the onset of the conflict in March 2011 — a number UN officials expect to surpass 1.3 million by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, fighting continued to rage across southern Syria on Sunday, with Jordanian security sources and rebel officials reporting heavy clashes in the border towns of Um Al Methan, Al Jassem, Sheikh Al Maskin and the city of Daraa.

The spike in violence comes as part of an ongoing sweeping military offensive by Damascus that has seen regime forces retake over 30 towns and villages — a campaign allegedly bolstered by Hizbollah and Iranian forces.

As of late Sunday, some 4,000 Hizbollah fighters remained posted on the outskirts of Daraa, a few kilometres away from the Jordanian-Syrian border, according to rebel officials and local residents, who claim this is the first step of an impending siege of the southern city.