Jordan carried out airstrikes against armed groups in southern Syria on Tuesday in retaliation for a deadly attack on a Greek Orthodox Church in the Jordanian city of Karak last week, with Syrian authorities reporting at least 7 civilian deaths.
Syria’s civil defence agency said seven people were killed in strikes across the southern provinces of Daraa and Sweida. Among them were five members of a family, including three children and a woman, who died when a strike hit a tent in rural Daraa. Three other family members were injured. Two elderly men, aged 80 and 60, were killed in separate strikes, the agency said.
Jordan’s air force said the operation killed and wounded several members of the targeted groups and destroyed multiple vehicles. However, it did not identify the groups or disclose the exact locations of the strikes.
The Syrian government said the operation was conducted without prior coordination or notification. It said authorities were investigating the incident and had opened communication channels with Jordan to discuss the matter, news agency AP reported.
Syria subsequently announced the closure of its main border crossing with Jordan.
The strikes came after a gun attack on a Greek Orthodox Church in Karak on Friday killed nine people and wounded more than two dozen others. The attack took place during a funeral in the city, about 90 km south of the Jordanian capital, Amman.
Jordanian authorities on Monday arrested three men in connection with the attack following a shootout at dawn. All three were wounded during the operation and taken into custody in Karak.
The public security directorate identified the suspects as brothers Hazzah Zaidan Mohammad and Mishal Zaidan Mohammad, and their brother-in-law Ahmad Sami Hussein. All three are Jordanian nationals.
The agency’s chief, Major General Obaidallah Abd Rabbo Al-Maayta, described the attackers as “takfiri”, a term commonly used for Sunni militants who label others as apostates. However, he said they were not linked to any organised group and acted on their own. Authorities also recovered a large cache of ammunition from the abandoned house where the men were apprehended.
Interior minister Mazen Al-Faraya attributed the attack to extremist ideology, warning that similar incidents could recur if such thinking was not addressed.
King Abdullah II had ordered authorities to respond firmly to those responsible, saying that the perpetrators would not escape punishment and that ideologies threatening national unity would not be tolerated.