Jordan Strikes Syria After Karak Church Attack; Border Shut
Jordanian jets struck what Amman called “terrorist organisations” in Syria’s Daraa province, retaliating for Friday’s shooting at a Christian funeral in Karak that killed nine. Syrian health officials said five people, including women and children, died. Damascus says it was not notified and has closed Nassib, the only passenger and commercial crossing between the two countries.
The two accounts diverge on the essentials. Jordan says it coordinated with the Syrian government and killed and wounded “several terrorists”; Syria says it was not told and that civilians, including an elderly man, were among the dead. Damascus said the closure means “the complete suspension of passenger and commercial traffic in both directions” while it investigates. Complicating Amman’s case, its interior minister, Mazen al-Faraya, said the three men arrested over the church attack — two brothers and their brother-in-law — were all Jordanian, found hiding in a village near the scene. Thirty-four were injured in the attack on the Greek Orthodox funeral.