Jordan attacks militant groups in Syria in retaliation for church attack

AMMAN — Jordan has carried out airstrikes against what its military says were terrorist groups in Syria in retaliation for Friday’s attack on a Greek Orthodox church in the southern governorate of Karak that killed nine people.

Jordanian air force said the operation “resulted in the killing and wounding of many members of these terrorist groups and the destruction of a number of their vehicles”. It did not name the groups or the precise location of the strikes.

Syrian state media reported that civilians had been killed in the strikes. The director of health in the southern province of Daraa, where the strikes took place, told the Syrian national news agency, Sana, that at least five civilians had been killed, including women and children and a 65-year-old man.

Jordan’s armed forces said the operation was conducted in coordination with Damascus, but Syria said it had not been notified of Monday's attack.

Damascus said it had launched an investigation into the ⁠Jordanian attacks, and stressed in a statement the importance of field and security coordination in border areas.

In response to the strike, Syria said it had closed a border crossing with Jordan.

"The decision includes the complete suspension of passenger and commercial traffic in both directions, to ensure the safety of travellers and workers at the crossing," Syrian authorities said in a statement carried by state media.

It added that it had "opened direct channels of communication" with Jordanian officials and had launched "comprehensive investigations to establish the full circumstances of the targeting".

Earlier on Monday, senior government security officials said Jordanian security forces had arrested two brothers and their brother-in-law over the church attack.

The Public Security Directorate said the unnamed "terrorists" were found hiding in an abandoned house in Karak before dawn.

Jordan's Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya told state-affiliated TV the attackers were all Jordanians and "had been holed up in a building in one of the villages near the site of the attack".