Number of displaced triples to 160,000 during fighting in south Syria: UNHCR

AMMAN (Reuters) - The number of displaced people in southern Syria has more than tripled to 160,000 in the latest fighting, the U.N. refugee agency’s Jordan spokesman Mohammad Hawar said on Friday.

“We expect the numbers during the night to rise further,” Hawar said. The last U.N. figure issued Monday was 45,000.

A ceasefire has been agreed for southern Syria, a Jordanian official source said earlier on Friday, as an army offensive against insurgents sparked fears of a humanitarian catastrophe near the borders with Jordan and Israel.

(Reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi; Editing by Andrew Heavens)