BEIRUT, Lebanon — Jordan ordered Syria’s ambassador to leave the country within 24 hours on Monday after accusing him of “repeated insults to Jordan and its leadership, institutions and citizens.”

The ambassador, Bahjat Suleiman, had criticized a Jordanian politician for speaking out against President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and rejected suggestions that security concerns might keep Jordan from letting Syrians there vote in the coming Syrian presidential election.

Syria responded by saying that it had barred the chargé d’affairs at the Jordanian Embassy in Damascus from re-entering the country.

It remained unclear whether the moves reflected a substantial change in the overall state of relations between the countries. Throughout Syria’s civil war, Jordan has sought to appear neutral while facilitating limited covert aid to the Syrian rebels and taking in hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria.