The Jordanian air force said its operation against armed groups in Syria “resulted in the killing and wounding of many members of these terrorist groups and the destruction of a number of their vehicles,” but did not specify which groups or the precise location of the strikes, according to the Associated Press.
Syrian state media offered a conflicting account. The director of health in the southern province of Daraa, where the strikes took place, told the state news agency Sana that at least five civilians had been killed, including women, children and a 65-year-old man. Syria’s government said it had launched an investigation into the strikes and stressed the importance of field and security coordination in border areas, contradicting Jordan’s claim that the operation was coordinated with Damascus.
In the aftermath, Syria closed the Nassib border crossing with Jordan, suspending traffic in both directions. Nassib is Jordan’s only passenger and commercial border crossing with Syria.
Earlier on Monday, Jordanian authorities arrested three men for Friday’s attack that also wounded more than two dozen people. The arrests followed a dawn shootout in which all three were wounded, officials said. The Public Security Directorate identified them as brothers Hazzah Zaidan Mohammad and Mishal Zaidan Mohammad, and their brother-in-law Ahmad Sami Hussein. All are Jordanian citizens. Security chief Maj Gen Obaidallah Abd Rabbo Al-Maayta described the gunmen as “takfiri,” a term used for Sunni militants, but said they were not tied to any organised group. “They only represent themselves,” he told a news conference, adding that a large cache of munitions was found in the abandoned house where they were apprehended.
Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said the attack was the result of “a terroristic, extremist way of thinking” and warned that similar incidents could recur if such thinking was not addressed. King Abdullah II ordered authorities to respond with “an iron fist” against what he called “outlaws of Islam” and anyone attempting to undermine the unity of the Jordanian people.
Relatives of the victims expressed mixed emotions. Khaled al-Borqan, a survivor and relative of three of the nine killed, told Al-Mamlaka that the arrests “eased our grief, and the grief of the Jordanian people.” Fares Halaseh, an uncle of one victim and also a survivor, told the same station that the news brought joy, but added: “We will not forget this agony for years to come.”
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the church attack, and the attackers’ motive remains unknown. Jordan declared three days of mourning after the attack.