Jordan airstrikes hit Syria after church attack, Damascus reports seven civilian deaths

Church attack and arrests

On Friday, 23 October, gunmen opened fire on mourners at a funeral in a Greek Orthodox church in the village of Hammoud, in Karak, killing nine people and wounding 25. King Abdullah II vowed a forceful response and wrote on X that those who think they can divide Jordanians with bullets stand no chance against the country's unity. On Monday, 26 October, Jordanian authorities announced the arrest of the three attackers, two brothers and their brother-in-law, all Jordanian and described by Amman as radical Islamists. Jordan said they had ties to militant groups in southern Syria, and nobody has taken credit for the shooting.

Jordanian airstrikes in Syria

Jordan's air force, including F-16 jets, then struck what it described as Islamic State positions in southern Syria, hitting hideouts, a weapons depot and vehicles in the provinces of Daraa and Sweida. Mohammed al-Momani, the Jordanian government spokesman, said preliminary results pointed to heavy losses among the group, estimated at more than 20 fighters, and the destruction of a large arms depot. Earlier Jordanian strikes along the Syrian border, carried out since 2023, were mostly aimed at drug and weapons smugglers, which makes this operation unusual for a kingdom that has generally kept its military out of Syria's war. Al-Momani said Jordan had avoided sites where intelligence indicated civilians were present, and he expressed regret over the civilian casualties. He added that Amman respects the Syrian state.

Damascus reports civilian deaths

Syria's Foreign Ministry called the strikes an unacceptable violation of its airspace and said they had not been coordinated with Damascus in advance. Syrian authorities put the death toll at seven, including three children and a woman, with five members of one family killed in the isolated hamlet of al-Taf near the Jordanian border. The state news agency Sana reported six deaths in Daraa, while the civil defence counted seven, including one man killed in a house in neighbouring Sweida. Independent verification of the casualty figures and the targets has not been possible so far.

Border closure and diplomacy

Syria shut the Nassib crossing on its southern border, known as Jaber on the Jordanian side, and suspended all passenger and freight traffic in both directions, citing unspecified current circumstances. Syria's Foreign Ministry said the two countries were working on a joint security and operations committee to prevent further incidents and better guard their shared border. Damascus also said it would hold an investigation into the strikes. Earlier Jordanian statements that the church attack did not appear to have been planned in advance have added to the confusion, since they sit uneasily with the strikes' justification. The crisis is the most serious between the two countries since an Islamist-led coalition overthrew Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

Accounts from the ground

Residents of Daraa rejected allegations that the dead had any links to militant activity. A local resident told Reuters that the families were simply trying to make a living, tending sheep and goats and doing manual labour. Mourners at a funeral in al-Taf asked where the state was and why it was not protecting them. Syrian and Jordanian accounts of the night's events remain sharply different, and no independent body has confirmed either version.

Killed9

Injured25

Killed

9 people

Injured

25 people

Data from the article text