Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - As fighting escalates across the border with war-torn Syria, Ramtha residents on Thursday expressed concern over ongoing clashes in the nearby battlefield of Syria’s Daraa, while authorities stressed that “our side of the border is protected”.

Ramtha, in Irbid, is only a few kilometres from the southern Syrian province of Daraa which has been witnessing intensified fighting between the government forces and the rebels over the past few days.

Residents of the northern city, interviewed by Al Rai and The Jordan Times, said they are worried that with the escalation in fighting more shells might fall on their city, a repeat of an ordeal they underwent two years ago and have been suffering intermittently since then.

Riyad Slaman, one of the city’s residents, said his children woke up very scared on Thursday morning due to the sound of shooting.

He added that over the past few days, the fighting escalated in the evening and continued until morning hours.

Mutasem Zu’bi, another Ramtha resident, said, he felt like the battle was in Ramtha and not in Daraa because of the "roaring sounds" from the nearby battlefield.

As a precautionary measure, and to avoid any possible harm to students if shells fall on the city, Ramtha Education Directorate evacuated schools on Thursday.

Ibrahim Jebawi, head of the Syrian Media Commission, confirmed that the fighting in southern Syria is between regime forces and opposition factions.

He told The Jordan Times that the timing of this fighting is "intentional", prior to the Geneva meeting, noting that “whenever there are talks or a meeting, the regime forces escalate their operations in one of the fronts”.

Jebawi, the head of the commission that is the official media channel for moderate factions in southern Syria, said the regime forces were “trying to control the border crossing between Daraa and Ramtha, but the Free Syrian Army was on alert".

Despite the escalation in fighting across the border, a top government official stressed that the country’s borders from the Jordanian side are safeguarded.

“Borders are protected by our side only,” Government Spokesperson Mohammad Momani told The Jordan Times, adding that “we stand together to face the challenges caused by the security situation in Syria”.

The 370km border line with Syria is “tightly safeguarded by the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army”, added Momani, who is also minister of state for media affairs.

“We are capable of deterring any threat,” he said.

*Jordan Times