Jordan denies opening fire on displaced Syrians at border crossing

Jordan has denied reports that its security forces opened fire on displaced Syrians gathered on the border between the two countries, the state-run Petra news agency has said.

It follows reports that the Jordanian military fired at the refugees gathered at the al-Nasib border crossing with Jordan were "not true at all".

"The armed forces did not fire any bullets at the displaced people either in the past or in this crisis," the outlet quoted a military source as saying.

"Such rumours and fabricated materials refer to some terrorist elements who try to exploit what is going on to spread their rumours," he added.

Earlier on Sunday, some Syrian pro-opposition outlets and online activists claimed that Jordanian security forces had fired at Syrians who attempted to approach the barbed wire fence at the southwest border crossing.

Since June 19, a deadly Syrian regime bombing campaign in Daraa province has forced more than 320,000 people to flee their homes, many to the sealed border with Jordan.

Tens of thousands returned to their homes in southern Syria since a ceasefire deal between regime ally Russia and rebels to end more than two weeks of deadly bombardment.

More than 60,000 people have since taken to the roads from the Jordanian frontier, heading back to their homes in the east or west of the province.

The UN humanitarian coordinator in Jordan, Anders Pederson, said most of the displaced along the Jordanian border had headed back inside Syria.

There are only "around 150 to 200 people right now at the border", he said.