Jordan and Syria agree to joint investigation of Jordanian attacks

A Jordan and Syria agreed today to set up a joint committee to investigate the circumstances that led to the Jordanian attacks that killed several civilians in Syrian territory the day before, increasing tensions between the two countries.

Today, Jordan said that in the air raids it carried out on Syria some 20 militants from the extremist Islamic State group were killed, but acknowledged that some civilians also died. Syrian authorities reported seven people killed in the attacks, mostly women and children.

In a joint communiqué, issued after a telephone call between the Syrian and Jordanian Foreign Ministers, the two countries announced that they will “develop mechanisms of field coordination and intelligence to deal with terrorist threats in a way that guarantees the preservation of Syrian sovereignty and the protection of the lives of innocent civilians”.

The Hashemite Air Force carried out air raids in Syria on Monday night as retaliation for last week's attacks on a funeral in a Greek Orthodox Church in Karak, southern Jordan, which killed nine people.

Jordan also announced that the three shooters had been arrested, but their affiliation was not disclosed.

The figures given in the statements by the Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani differ from what the first Syrian rescuers reported.

Syria's civil defense said it only recovered the bodies of seven civilians killed in Jordanian attacks in the southern provinces of Daraa and Sweida. Five of these fatalities were from a family, including three children and one woman, two of the dead men were elderly.

The Syrian government stated that the attacks were carried out without prior coordination or notification from Syria.

The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned in a statement the attacks, calling them “an unacceptable violation and intrusion” of Syrian airspace, but also said that the leaders of both countries will strengthen security coordination to “obstruct any efforts to destabilize the security of both countries and shed the blood of their people.”.

Al-Momani said that the attacks were based on information about “confirmed threats and planned terrorist acts against Jordan” and expressed regret for civilian victims.

Amman and Damascus maintained strong bilateral ties after the fall of the Assad dynasty in December 2024, and the creation of the interim government led by Islamist President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

Masoud al-Salim lost his wife, son and three grandchildren in one of the attacks that struck his home in the Syrian border village of Al-Tuff in Daraa province. “I ran there and realized that the house no longer existed, no tent, nothing. I couldn’t find anyone,” al-Salim said, going through school books and children’s toys in the rubble.

“ I started searching under the wreckage. I thought they could be buried there,” he added.

At the funeral of the dead family in Monday's attacks, the mourners were in shock.

“ When the church in Karak was targeted, we felt sorry for them and we were upset for them,” said Majed al-Hayjan, a resident of Daraa. “But what did the children who were sleeping have to do with this? We had to get them under the rubble. What did they do to deserve this?” they questioned.