Follow-Up: Jordan Airstrikes Kill 7 in Southern Syria; Syria Closes Nassib Crossing, Denies Coordination
Syria's General Authority for Border Crossings and Customs announced that the Nassib crossing was closed on Tuesday, October 27, suspending passenger and commercial traffic in both directions and citing developments on the ground in Daraa province. Nassib, known as Jaber on the Jordanian side, is Jordan's only passenger and commercial border crossing with Syria. The closure followed Jordanian Air Force strikes on several locations in southern Syria on October 26.
Jordan's armed forces said the air force struck what it described as militant hideouts in southern Syria in retaliation for the attack last Friday, October 23, on a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church in the village of Hamoud in Karak governorate, which killed nine people and wounded at least 34. The military said the strikes killed and wounded many members of the targeted groups and destroyed a number of their vehicles, and offered no comment on the reported civilian toll.
Syrian accounts differed. The Syrian Civil Defence said in a preliminary report that seven people, including three children and a woman, were killed and three others wounded in the Jordanian strikes, and that emergency teams responded to four sites hit in the countryside of Daraa and Sweida provinces. Syria's defence ministry said one strike hit five members of the same family.
The two governments contradicted each other over coordination. Jordan's military said the operation was conducted in coordination with Damascus. Syria's foreign ministry said Damascus had expressed its complete reservation over strikes carried out without prior coordination, had launched an investigation, and stressed the importance of field and security coordination in border areas.
On the same day as the strikes, Jordanian security forces arrested three suspects in the church attack — two brothers and their brother-in-law — in the village of al-Jadeeda in Karak governorate. The men, hiding in an abandoned house, refused to surrender and opened fire; after a shootout lasting about three hours they were wounded and arrested, no security personnel were injured, and firearms and ammunition were seized. Public Security Director Obeidallah al-Maaytah and Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said the file was not yet closed, investigations were ongoing, and there were as yet no indications linking the three to other cells. King Abdullah had earlier ordered security forces to respond to the attack with an iron fist.
Related: Follow-up coverage of the arrest of the three Karak church attack suspects
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：约旦与叙利亚边境口岸一景（资料图，2009 年摄于约旦一侧）。图片：High Contrast 摄，CC BY 3.0 DE（Wikimedia Commons）。Photo: The Jordan-Syria border crossing, seen from the Jordanian side (file photo, 2009). Credit: High Contrast, CC BY 3.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons.
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- 2026-10-27Follow-Up: Jordan Airstrikes Kill 7 in Southern Syria; Syria Closes Nassib Crossing, Denies CoordinationThis story
