Jordan is putting pressure on Syrian rebel groups in southern Syria to hand over the Nasib border crossing in Daraa province to the Syrian army, according to various news sources. The London-based Asharq Al-Awsat daily reported Sept. 27 that meetings had taken place in Amman in mid-September between Jordanian officials, representatives of Syrian opposition groups and the local council in Daraa to reach an agreement that would lead to the reopening of the Nasib border crossing with Jordan.

The kingdom closed its side of the border crossing in Jaber when Nasib fell to rebel groups in May 2015. The paper said the Syrian government had made suggestions to Jordan’s Foreign Ministry regarding the reopening of borders between the two countries under which Syrian government officials would operate the Nasib crossing “just as they did before March 2011,” when the Syrian uprising erupted.

There has been no official acknowledgment by Amman about meeting details. But on Oct. 1, a number of news sites reported that the National Front for the Liberation of Syria, a group belonging to the Free Syrian Army (FSA), had rejected a proposal to reopen the border crossing with Jordan under Syrian government administration. A spokesman for the group, Abu Jasem Al-Hariri, was quoted as saying that the border crossing will remain closed until “detainees in regime prisons are released and all displaced people from Daraa are repatriated.”

A statement released Sept. 30 by civil and military groups that met in al-Nueima in Daraa rejected any truce with the Syrian regime and reiterated the groups’ commitment to “the principles of the Syrian uprising.” It also called for the release of Syrians in regime prisons and for management of Nasib to be handed over to a civil authority belonging to the so-called Free Daara Provincial Council.