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Ammon News - by Taylor Luck/ Jordan Times

AMMAN — Rising violence across southern Syria continued to prevent hundreds of refugees from fleeing to Jordan on Sunday, as relief officials marked the first year anniversary of the world’s largest Syrian camp.

Sunday marked one year since the opening of the Zaatari Refugee Camp, some 100km northeast of Amman, which has grown from its inception as a desert camp of 5,000 to a 150,000-strong camp.

It is now the second-largest refugee camp in the world and the fourth-largest population centre in Jordan.

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

According to the Jordan Armed Forces, some 90 Syrians crossed into Jordan early Sunday, continuing a two-week slowdown in new arrivals and the second consecutive day crossings failed to pass the century mark.

The came as Damascus continued a military offensive that, according to border region residents, has blocked access routes to southern Syria, stranding some 7,000 refugees along the Jordanian-Syrian border.

The border blockade has led to an influx of thousands of displaced Syrians into under-siege border towns and villages, triggering what local residents are calling a “humanitarian crisis”.

“Right now, no one can move between villages or towards the border; any movement is suicide,” said Mahmoud Abdo, an activist with the Local Coordination Committees in the border village of Al Shajarah, which witnessed an influx of 100 displaced Syrians on Sunday.

“But if the crossings don’t open soon, we will all starve,” he warned.

Damascus’ ongoing bombing campaign continued to force hundreds of refugees to brave more arduous eastern desert routes to cross into Jordan, with relief officials reporting over 90 per cent of Sunday’s crossings via desert crossings.