Damascus and Amman contradict each other over strikes that killed civilians in Syria

Jordan's air force said it killed more than 20 ISIL (ISIS) fighters in retaliatory strikes on what it called “dens of terrorist organisations in southern Syria”, linked to suspects accused of being behind last week's attack on a Greek Orthodox church that killed nine people and wounded at least 34 in the village of Hamoud in the Karak governorate, an attack claimed by the group. Jordanian authorities said the church attack was carried out by “extremist terrorists”, King Abdullah II promised to respond with an “iron fist”, and three men were arrested in connection with the church attack.

Jordan has launched several air strikes on Syria since 2023, saying they generally target arms or drug smugglers, and relations between Amman and Damascus have been lukewarm but slowly improving since Bashar al-Assad's government fell in December 2024. Days before the strike, the two foreign ministers were discussing a strategic partnership and preparing another meeting of their High Coordination Council, and Amman was the site of a July 2025 trilateral agreement signing between Syria, the United States and Jordan aimed at resolving internal disputes over violence in Suwayda.

Jordan said Monday's strikes, on the southern Syrian regions of Deraa and Suwayda, were carried out in coordination with authorities in Damascus. Syria's foreign ministry contradicted that account, saying it had informed Jordan of its “complete reservation” over the attacks and that they took place “without prior coordination or notification with the Syrian side”. An official described the strikes as “treacherous”.

Bodies of the grandmother and her three grandchildren were recovered after a strike hit a tent in the village of al-Taff, in the Lajat area of northeastern Deraa, and Syria's civil defence said three other family members were wounded. An 80-year-old man, Riyad Karrad, was killed near Nassib, and Mutlaq Abu al-Khalil, 60, was killed in Suwayda's northern countryside. Images of the dead family spread as public anger mounted, and Syrian customs closed the Nassib border crossing with Jordan on Tuesday before reopening it to passenger and commercial traffic on Wednesday.

“The anger also reflects an expectation that the authorities in Damascus should now be able to protect Syrians and demand answers when they are killed or harmed,” said Navvar Saban, a researcher in security and military affairs at the Arab Center for Contemporary Syrian Studies. “If people feel Damascus is more concerned with protecting the relationship with the Jordanians than accountability, some of the anger could turn inward.”

The attack on the church was “especially brazen given the Christian church and the nature of the event being targeted”, said Sean Yom, an expert on Jordan at Temple University, who noted that “security and policing remain core strengths of the Jordanian state” and that the government instantly felt popular demands to show results from the investigation.

Saban said both governments have something to defend politically: Amman wants to show it acted against a serious threat through legitimate security channels, while Damascus cannot afford to appear to have approved an operation that killed Syrian families. The investigation needs to establish who communicated with whom, when and about which target, he said, and he expected “a serious strain rather than a rupture” in relations.

Syria's foreign ministry condemned the strikes as a violation of sovereignty but appeared to indicate relations with Amman would continue to be strengthened, saying Damascus is coordinating with Jordan to establish a joint security committee to strengthen border security. “Even if an investigation established that Damascus approved some part of the operation, that would not explain why those people were killed or remove the need for accountability,” Saban said. “Ultimately, the families deserve a specific answer about the strike that killed their relatives, their friends, their family. Syrians need to understand why their families got killed.”