Almost 35,000 Syrian refugees have returned home from Jordan since their country's conflict broke out in March 2011, but a larger number joined the exodus last month alone, a government spokesman said on Friday.

"34,824 Syrian refugees have gone back to their country since the start of the crisis," Anmar al-Hammud, spokesman for the refugee file, told Agence France Presse.

Saudi authorities are to release a Jordanian reform activist held since the beginning of the year in a case that drew concern from human rights groups, the foreign ministry in Amman said Thursday.

"Saudi authorities told us that Khalid al-Natour will return to Jordan, most likely on Sunday," ministry spokesman Sabah al-Rifai told Agence France Presse.

Syrian state media have sharply criticized Jordan for hosting U.S.-backed training of Syrian rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad, warning that Amman risks falling into the "volcanic crater" of Syria's conflict.

The stern warning issued Thursday by state radio and in a front-page editorial in the daily al-Thawra, the mouthpiece of the Syrian government, will likely aggravate Jordan's security fears over the civil war in its northern neighbor.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed a deal with King Abdullah II on Sunday confirming Jordan's historic role as custodian of the holy sites in Jerusalem, the palace said.

Outlining their coordination, the two sides stressed their "common goal to defending" Jerusalem and its sacred sites against attempts to Judaise the Holy City, particularly the flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque compound.

King Abdullah II on Saturday swore in a trim cabinet line-up of 19 members led by reformist Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur who merged several portfolios to cut spending, the new information minister said.

The new government, the smallest in Jordan in more than four decades, comprises 13 newcomers including a woman, with the key interior ministry changing hands while veteran diplomat Nasser Judeh staying at the helm of the foreign ministry.

The British government on Wednesday vowed not to give up its fight to deport radical cleric Abu Qatada to Jordan after losing its latest court challenge to have him expelled.

Lawyers for Home Secretary Theresa May had appealed a decision by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) in November allowing the Jordanian to stay in Britain, but this was dismissed.

Rebels fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime on Monday sealed off the country's only two border posts with Jordan, a military official said.

"The Free Syrian Army closed the two crossings of Daraa and Naseeb from their side after they took control of them," the Jordanian official told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

Rebels fighting President Bashar Assad's regime have seized a 25-kilometer (15 miles) strip of land stretching from the Jordan border to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a watchdog said on Sunday.

"Fighters loyal to Al-Nusra Front, Al-Yarmuk Brigade, Al-Mutaz Billah Brigade and others took control of Al-Rai military checkpoint," east of Sahem al-Golan town in the southern province of Daraa, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

U.S. President Barack Obama strolled among the ancient Jordanian ruins at Petra on Saturday, on the final leg of a four-day Middle East tour dominated by his embrace of Israel.

Obama flew by helicopter to view the rose-colored stone ruins of the ancient Nabataean city, after winds from a sandstorm abated and allowed him to make the 55-minute trip across the plains and mountains of Jordan.

President Barack Obama arrived in Jordan on Friday to face scrutiny over his Syria strategy, on the last leg of a Middle East tour after visits to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The U.S. presidential aircraft landed in Queen Alia Airport near Amman at 1445 GMT, and he was welcomed by Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and other top officials.