Why Syrians in Jordan refuse to return home
Not many Syrians have returned from Jordan since the Nassib-Jaber border crossing was opened last year, for fear of military conscription and arrest by government forces.
ALEPPO, Syria — Although the Nassib-Jaber border crossing between Syria and Jordan opened Oct. 15, 2018, the number of Syrian refugees returning home from Jordan remains low. This has sparked questions about the reasons preventing their return to their hometowns in southern Syria, as the battles between the opposition and government forces have ended and calm has been restored following reconciliation agreements under direct Russian brokerage since mid-2018.
The Jordanian Ministry of Interior released a statement Sept. 17, which Jordan's Ammon News published, saying that 153,000 Syrians entered Syria through the Nassib-Jaber border crossing since its opening mid-October 2018, and that 33,000 of them have refugee status. The rest are Syrian nationals who entered Jordan to visit their relatives and then returned to Syria, and also traders and Syrians living in Jordan since before the 2011 revolution broke out, who do not have refugee status in Jordan.
