Jordan's military struck targets in Syria on Monday in retaliation for a shooting at a Christian funeral in Karak that killed nine people on Friday. Syrian health officials said five people, including women, children and an elderly man, died in the strike on a village in the southern Daraa province. Jordan's military said it had killed and wounded "several terrorists" but provided no further details.
The two governments offered conflicting accounts of coordination. Jordan said it had coordinated the strike with the Syrian government. Syria denied this, stating it had not been notified of Monday's attack.
Syrian authorities responded by closing the Nassib border crossing, the only passenger and commercial crossing between the two countries. The closure suspends all traffic in both directions "to ensure the safety of travellers and workers," Syrian state media reported. Syria added that it had "opened direct channels of communication" with Jordan and launched "comprehensive investigations to establish the full circumstances of the targeting."
The funeral shooting on Friday also wounded 34 people. Jordanian security forces arrested three men over the attack on Monday morning: two brothers and their brother-in-law. The Public Security Directorate said the men were found hiding in an abandoned house in Karak before dawn. Jordan's Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya told state-affiliated television the attackers were Jordanians who "had been holed up in a building in one of the villages near the site of the attack." The men remain unnamed.