Different sources present varying counts of Syrian returnees from Jordan

AMMAN — Figures for Syrian refugees returning home from Jordan since the border’s reopening showed wide gaps between concerned authorities, with an official source on Friday announcing a total of 5,703 returnees until Thursday and the UNHCR’s count confirming the return of only 3,852 last week. 

The official source told the Jordan News Agency, Petra, that 28,774 Syrians, who are not registered as refugees, left the Kingdom and 14,774 Syrians entered Jordan since the Jaber-Nassib crossing’s reopening on October 15.

Meanwhile, Syrian Chargé d’Affaires to Jordan Ayman Alloush on Friday said that the embassy in Amman receives 300 to 400 Syrians on a daily basis to issue travel documents that would allow them to return to their country. 

In an interview with Almamlakah TV, Alloush said that the embassy has been daily — since the reopening of the crossing — receiving 100 to 150 compatriots daily, whose passports have expired, to renew their passports for 20 days to be able to return to Syria.

UNHCR Representative in Jordan Stefano Severe on Wednesday said that the agency has managed to confirm and verify, through its database, the return of 3,852 refugees who left through the crossing between Jordan and Syria since its reopening on October 15 until December 1.

The Jaber-Nassib crossing between Jordan and Syria was back to business as usual for passengers and cargo movement under certain conditions agreed on between the two countries, after it was shut in April 2015, due to the escalating violence in the Syrian town of Nassib, just across the border station, some 80km north of Amman.