Syriaupdated 52m ago3 min read
Jordan Airstrikes Kill 6 Civilians in Daraa Countryside, Locals Hold Funerals
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Six civilians, including children, were killed in Jordanian airstrikes on the Daraa countryside. Hundreds attended funeral processions for the victims in Daraa countryside.
Jordan strikes, Daraa funerals
Hundreds of locals held a funeral procession in Daraa countryside for the bodies of 6 people, including children, killed by air raids on the Lajat and Shayyah areas, as Jordanian aircraft launched a series of airstrikes targeting several sites in the province in southern Syria. The funeral began at al-Sanamin Military Hospital with official Syrian attendance and broad popular participation, where a delegation of Christian clergymen took part in the service. Residents of the targeted areas and eyewitnesses told Syria Now that the raids reached farmers and civilians, and they denied the existence of any activities by armed groups or smuggling at the bombed sites.
In the village of al-Taf in the Lajat area, dozens gathered to funeralize 5 victims, while a heated mourner condemned the strikes and called for accountability for victims described as “children aged between 5 and 8 who were killed while sleeping.” In the Shiyah border area near the city of Daraa, an airstrike hit a civilian farm and killed an elderly farmer over seventy, and the victim’s son said his father “was on the farm to protect it from thieves.”
Damascus and Amman trade claims
Syria condemned Jordanian airstrikes in Daraa province as an “unacceptable violation and breach of Syrian airspace without any prior coordination,” while Jordan said its strikes targeted ISIS fighters. Jordan’s public broadcaster Al Mamlaka reported that the civilians killed in Monday’s strikes included the mother and three nephews of one of the suspected church attackers, and Syria rejected Amman’s claim of coordination before striking militants. Jordanian government spokesperson Mohammad al-Momani said on X that more than 20 ISIS fighters were killed and that weapons depots were destroyed, while the Jordanian military said the strikes were carried out "in coordination with the Syrian government," a claim Damascus denied.
SANA reported that seven civilians, including a woman, three children, an elderly man and two other men, were killed in the airstrikes, and Syria’s Foreign Ministry said it was following developments on the shared border with “great concern and attention.” A resident described the raids as planes flying “from a quarter to half an hour, in both directions east and west, then attacked the neighbor’s house,” and the witness said the neighbor was “an elderly man who uses a cane to walk.”
Border closure and joint committee
Jordan’s retaliatory strikes followed last week’s attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Jordan’s Karak province, where gunmen opened fire on a funeral ceremony killing nine people and injuring 40, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II promised “harsh retaliation.” After the strikes, the government of Ahmed Al-Sharaa ordered the Nassib border crossing with Jordan closed, suspending passenger and commercial traffic in both directions, and the Damascus General Authority for Border Crossings and Customs said the decision was made due to the security situation on the ground. Jordan’s communications minister Mohammad al-Momani said Jordan would establish a joint committee to examine the consequences of the operation and strengthen coordination in combating Daesh while protecting civilians, and he said “Jordan's security and Syria's security are one.”
Syria’s Foreign Ministry said it was working with Jordan to “establish an urgent joint field and security committee to prevent further violations and secure the shared border,” and it framed the strikes as seeking to spoil “the brotherly relations between the two countries.” Syria’s Ministry of Interior said it was investigating the circumstances of the bombings and reiterated that protecting the civilian population is a priority, with spokesperson Nour al Din al-Baba stressing that coordination between the two countries is “the best way to address the challenges at the border without putting the lives of innocent civilians at risk.”