Syria says civilians killed in Jordan strikes and disputes coordination as border crossing closes

Syria has said civilians were killed in Jordan’s airstrikes in southern Syria on Monday and disputed Jordan’s account that the operation was coordinated with Damascus, in the first Syrian response since the strikes, which Flip News reported on Monday.

Daraa’s health director, Khaled Al-Amyan, told Syria’s state news agency, SANA, that civilians were caught in strikes on several sites in the province’s countryside, Arab News reported (https://www.arabnews.com/middle-east/jordan-strikes-southern-syria-after-church-funeral-attack-damascus-says-5-civilians-killed-3008415), with Syria saying five civilians, including women and children, were killed.

Reported civilian tolls differed between Syrian sources. The Syrian Civil Defence said in a preliminary report, carried by Reuters (https://srnnews.com/jordan-arrests-three-suspects-in-deadly-church-attack-state-media-says/), that seven people, including three children and a woman, were killed and three others wounded at four sites in the countryside of Daraa and Sweida provinces. An updated Arab News version put the figure at eight civilians, including women and three children. There was no immediate comment from Jordan on the Civil Defence account, Reuters reported.

The coordination of the operation is also disputed. Jordan’s military said the strikes were conducted in coordination with Damascus, while Syria’s foreign ministry said Damascus had expressed its “complete reservation” over strikes carried out without prior coordination. Syria’s government said it was investigating the circumstances and stressed the need for joint military and security coordination in border areas.

Syria has also closed the Nassib border crossing with Jordan, suspending passenger and commercial traffic in both directions, citing developments on the ground in Daraa province, Reuters reported. Nassib is Jordan’s only passenger and commercial border crossing with Syria.

Jordan’s military said the strikes targeted groups it linked to Friday’s attack on a funeral at a church in Karak, which killed nine people, and that many members of the groups were killed or wounded and several vehicles destroyed. It did not name the groups or give a precise casualty figure for the strikes.