Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Strained ties between Jordan and Syria flared Monday with both Arab countries announcing they would expel diplomats representing the two neighbor states , Agencies reported.

The Jordanian government said it declared Syria’s ambassador to Amman, Bahjat Suleiman, a persona non grata and requested that he leave the kingdom over “repeated insults” to the Hashemite kingdom.

In a tit-for-tat move, a Syrian state television said authorities would expel Jordan’s charges d'affaires to Damascus.

“The foreign affairs minister will order the expulsion of the charges d’affaires in Damascus after Jordan decided to consider Syria’s ambassador persona non grata,” Al-Ikhbariya television said.

Strains between to the two countries have been strained ever since the uprising in Syria, where government troops backed by Hezbollah have been battling to Syrian opposition forces.

Jordan has harbored more than one million refugees from neighboring Syria’s civil war.