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AMMAN — Jordan on Wednesday closed its border with Syria for security reasons, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.
The agency quoted Interior Minister Hussein Majali as saying that passenger and cargo traffic across the border was halted as a result of escalating violence in the Syrian town of Nasib, near the border crossing.
The decision to close the Jaber border station was primarily taken with the aim of saving the lives of passengers, Majali told Petra.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Nasib town has been witnessing “fierce” confrontations between forces loyal to the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad and Islamist opposition groups.
The observatory also reported that the Syrian regime’s warplanes have been launching “intensified” air strikes against the Islamist opposition’s posts in Nasib and other towns on the southern border with Jordan.
Jordan’s other border crossing with Syria, Ramtha, has been closed for nearly four years except for humanitarian assistance to the war-torn country in compliance with a UN decision taken last year.