Having lost her husband and son to Syrian military gunfire on the Jordanian border this week, a distraught Um Omar does not know why they were killed. "Our family did not join any anti-government protest," the 45-year-old woman says. "None of our relatives were wanted by the security services. We did not offer support or a shelter for rebels or activists," she adds.
Their only crime, she claims, was trying to leave. Um Omar was a resident of Syria's dissident province of Homs, which has been a key opposition stronghold in a pro-democracy uprising that started against the government of President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011.
"The Shabeeha (pro-government militiamen) were burning every house in our village. We thought we would be safer leaving for Jordan," she said as she cradled her 11-month-old baby.
The woman was waiting along with her four surviving children to receive aid handouts at a non-governmental organisation in the Jordanian border-city of Ramtha. Um Omar is one of dozens of Syrians arriving in Jordan with tales of alleged torture and mass killings by military forces targeting civilians attempting to flee restive areas.
In the days that followed the April 12 enforcement of a United Nations-brokered cease-fire in Syria, a slight lull in violence was matched by a spike in military attacks along Syria's southern border, where some 300 families had camped out waiting to enter Jordan, said activists. More than 110,000 Syrians have taken refuge into Jordan since the start of the 13-month crisis, according to relief agencies.
Syrian forces Saturday attacked a group of 200 families seeking to cross into Jordan from the border town of Nasib, leaving some 100 dead and dozens injured, according to local aid groups. Leila, a survivor of Saturday's alleged crackdown, believes that her two sons were arrested by the Syrian forces. While the 50-year-old Homs resident said she had previously seen bombardment, summary executions and torture, she claimed that what occurred on Saturday was nothing short of a "massacre."
"They were killing women and children. They shot one pregnant woman in the stomach at point-blank range," she alleged. "You would expect to see this type of slaughter in countries where they don't fear God... but not in Syria." Unlike the hundreds of Syrians who came to Jordan for treatment for gunshot wounds and burns during the last six months, the latest Syrians admitted into Jordanian hospitals - medical officials and relief workers say - bear the hallmark signs of systematic torture: amputated hands, dismembered ears, gauged eyes.
"The regime is no longer shooting to kill. It's trying to send a message," said Abu Muath Khatib, the head of the Islamic Charitable Society Centre's branch in Ramtha. "It is: Leave and you're dead." The alleged killings are part of a new campaign, which activists claim is designed to prevent families from leaving Syria. The exodus, according to the activists, deprives al-Assad's regime of its only leverage to pressure the opposition and discourage rebels' sympathisers from defecting.
"If your family is still in Syria, it is impossible to defect," said Abdul Nour, an activist who defected from the Syrian army in November. "If you do, it's a death sentence for your entire family and friends." The alleged border crackdown has transformed the daily life for Syrians living in the border region. Surviving refugees generally turn out to be widows, unaccompanied children, and young men with disabilities and life-threatening injuries.
The violence has nevertheless built a sense of community among the survivors. Abu Mohammed and his two sons, who fled Homs, have taken guardianship of two widows from the northern Syrian province of Idlib. The two women's husbands were "martyred" by Syrian forces as the group attempted to cross into Jordan on Sunday, he said. "A few days ago, we didn't even know each other's name. But for the rest of my life, I am going to take care of them as if they were my own daughters," Abu Mohammed, 74, added.
Despite the rise in brutality, Syrian refugees say it will do little to deter others from fleeing their homeland. "If there is a one per cent chance you can make it alive across the border, the odds are much better than staying in Syria," Amira, one Syrian refugee, said.