Syria condemns Jordanian strikes as unacceptable; seven civilians reported killed
Syria on Tuesday strongly condemned Jordanian air strikes in its south, carried out in response to a church attack in Jordan. Damascus cites an airspace violation and seven deaths, while Amman expressed regret over civilian casualties.
Syria's foreign ministry said on Tuesday it condemned and rejected, in the strongest terms, Jordanian strikes on southern Syria. Jordan carried out the strikes on Monday evening in retaliation for an attack last week on a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church in the southern Jordanian city of Karak, which killed nine people. The episode matters because it strains relations between two neighbours that had maintained close cooperation.
Syria's objections
Damascus described the strikes as an unacceptable violation of Syrian airspace carried out without prior coordination. The ministry also called them a blatant breach of the principles of good-neighbourliness and of Syrian national sovereignty. According to Syria, seven people were killed, including three children and a woman.
Syria's civil defence said it recovered the bodies of seven civilians in the southern provinces of Daraa and Sweida. Five of them were members of one family, and two of the men killed were elderly. The figures cited by Jordan differ from those reported by Syrian first responders.
Jordan's explanation
Jordan's Government Communication Minister Mohammed al-Momani said on X that he regretted the civilian casualties. He said the strikes were based on intelligence about confirmed threats and planned terrorist acts against Jordan. Earlier on Monday, Jordan announced it had arrested the three gunmen behind the church attack, without disclosing their affiliation.
Al-Momani stressed that Jordan holds great respect for the Syrian state and its people, and that coordination in fighting terrorism and weapons and drug smuggling has continued for years. Amman and Damascus had kept strong ties since the fall of the Assad dynasty in December 2024 and the rise of interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa's Islamist-led government.
A witness account
Masoud al-Salim lost his wife, son and three grandchildren when a strike hit his home in the Syrian border village of Al-Tuff in Daraa province. He said that when he arrived the house was gone, and he began searching for his relatives beneath the rubble.
