Photo: U.S. Air Force, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Jordan's air force struck what it described as militant hideouts in southern Syria on Monday evening, in retaliation for a deadly attack on a church in Jordan last week — setting off a dispute over casualties and coordination that has now closed the two countries' only border crossing.
The Jordanian Armed Forces said fighter jets destroyed a number of what it called "dens of terrorist organizations" in southeastern Syria, linked to the suspects behind the gun attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Jordan's Karak governorate on Friday, October 23, which killed nine people and wounded dozens more. Jordanian security forces separately arrested two brothers and their brother-in-law after a shootout on Monday connected to the church attack, according to Reuters.
Seven civilians dead, Syria says — 20 fighters killed, Jordan says
Syria's Civil Defense service, known as the White Helmets, said its crews recovered the bodies of seven people after strikes hit four sites in the countryside of Daraa and Suwayda provinces. Five of the dead — a man, a woman and three children — were members of one family killed when a strike hit a tent in the village of Al-Tai in Daraa province; three other family members, including a child, were wounded. A second strike in Al Shayyah, also in Daraa, killed an 80-year-old man. A third hit a residential building in Muzayrib, causing no casualties, and a fourth struck a residential building in the town of Shahba in Suwayda province, killing a 60-year-old man.
On Tuesday, Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said the air strikes had killed more than 20 fighters from the Islamic State armed group, while acknowledging that some civilians were killed. Jordan said it regretted the civilian casualties. The two accounts cannot both be complete: Jordan's figure counts fighters it says were targeted, while Syria's civil defense counts the bodies its teams recovered, most of them civilians.
A coordination dispute with Damascus
Jordan's military said the operation was conducted in coordination with the Syrian government. Damascus contradicted that account, saying in a statement that the strikes went ahead "without prior coordination or notification," announcing an investigation and condemning the operation as a violation of Syria's sovereignty. Syria's foreign ministry later said Damascus was coordinating with Amman and would establish a joint security committee to strengthen border security — an apparent attempt to contain the fallout without conceding Jordan's version of events.
The practical consequence came quickly. On Tuesday, Syria's border authority closed the Nassib crossing with Jordan, suspending passenger and commercial traffic in both directions, citing developments on the ground in Daraa province. Nassib is the only passenger and commercial border crossing between the two countries, making its closure a significant economic as well as political signal.
Why the church attack matters
The strikes mark a sharp escalation in Jordan's response to militant violence at home. The Karak church shooting killed nine people, including worshippers, in a country that has largely avoided the large-scale militant attacks seen elsewhere in the region. Jordan said the militants targeted in Syria were members of the Islamic State group, and that the suspects arrested in Jordan were linked to terrorist groups operating across the border in southern Syria — a claim that, if accepted, makes the cross-border operation a direct response to an attack planned from Syrian territory.
What remains unresolved is whether the operation will be treated as a one-off retaliation or the start of a pattern. Syria's investigation, the closed border crossing and the competing casualty claims all point to a relationship under strain, even as both governments say they want joint border security. For the families in Daraa and Suwayda, the distinction matters less than the outcome: seven civilians are dead, and the border that connects their region to Jordan is shut.
Sources: Reuters via GMA News and WNFL; Al Jazeera; The Jerusalem Post. The strike locations and civilian casualty details are from Syria's Civil Defense as reported by Al Jazeera and Reuters; Jordan's claim of more than 20 Islamic State fighters killed and its acknowledgment of civilian deaths are from Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani as reported by Reuters.