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Ammon News - By Taylor Luck | Jordan Times

AMMAN — Hundreds of Syrians fleeing alleged chemical weapon attacks were stranded due to the violence along the Jordanian-Syrian border on Saturday as a reported mass exodus towards Jordan entered its fourth straight day.

Syrian border region residents and activists said some 5,000 of their displaced compatriots remained stranded along the border after fleeing the alleged attacks in the Damascene countryside last Wednesday, which left over 1,300 dead.

“Hundreds of families are arriving from Damascus to the border region each day, but they can’t cross into Jordan because of the shelling,” said Ahmad Al Saad, an activist with the Local Coordination Committees in the border town of Tal Shihab, which has reportedly received an influx of over 5,000 displaced people since Wednesday’s attacks.

“Now they are living in safety, but for how long?” he asked.

Syrian rebel officials confirmed that an ongoing bombing campaign by Damascus continued to cut off main access routes into Jordan, rendering mass refugee crossings all but “impossible”.

Activists warn that the mass influx has placed growing stains on under-siege communities across southern Syria.

The stranded survivors are part of a mass exodus of some 10,000 civilians who fled their homes in the towns of Ghouta Al Sharqiyya, Ghouta Al Gharbiyyeh, Doma and Zamalka after Wednesday’s reported attacks.

“Thousands of men, women and children are risking their lives to reach liberated regions in southern Syria,” said Abu George Al Golani, commander of a Free Syrian Army battalion stationed outside Ghouta Sharqiyyah at the time of the alleged attacks.

The rising violence continued to reduce the refugee flow into Jordan to a steady trickle on Saturday, with Jordan Armed Forces reporting the crossing of some 90 Syrians.

Jordan has opened its borders to over 560,000 Syrians since the onset of the conflict in March 2011.