Jordan strikes Syria after church attack, killing at least seven

Amman — Jordan has carried out air strikes in southern Syria in what it called retaliation for Friday's deadly gun attack on a church in Karak, with Syrian authorities saying the raids killed at least seven people, including three children and a woman. Damascus responded by closing the Nassib crossing, the only passenger and commercial goods route between the two countries, and denied Jordan's claim that the operation was coordinated with it.

Jordan's Armed Forces said they targeted "hideouts" of armed groups in southeastern Syria over the gun attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Karak governorate, which killed at least nine people and wounded dozens. The military said the strikes "resulted in the killing and wounding of many members of these terrorist groups and the destruction of a number of their vehicles", and were launched "in coordination with the Syrian government". It did not name the groups, the Guardian reported.

Syria flatly contradicted that account. Its government said "the military operation was conducted without prior coordination or notification" and announced an investigation. Syria's Civil Defence said four sites in rural Deraa and Suweyda were hit on Monday evening, and that crews recovered seven bodies: three men, a woman and three children. Five of the dead were members of one family killed in a strike on a tent in the village of Al-Tai, the service said; three other relatives, including a child, were wounded.

The tolls differ by source. Deraa's health director told the state news agency Sana that at least five civilians were killed, including women, children and a 65-year-old man. Separately, the Civil Defence said an 80-year-old man died in a strike on Al Shayyah and a 60-year-old man in Shahba, while a strike on a residential building in Muzayrib caused no casualties, Al Jazeera reported. A Syrian Foreign Ministry official called the raids a "treacherous attack".

The escalation follows Friday's attack, in which three gunmen opened fire on mourners at a funeral in Karak, about 90km south of Amman. Karak is home to part of Jordan's Christian minority, about 300,000 of the country's 11.5 million people. Earlier on Monday, Jordanian security forces arrested two brothers and their brother-in-law in the village of Al-Jadeeda after a roughly three-hour shootout; a government source told Al Jazeera the suspects were seriously injured. King Abdullah II has pledged the perpetrators will face the "harshest penalties" and ordered a review of security procedures.

The next markers are Syria's investigation into the strikes and any finding on whether civilians, rather than the alleged armed groups, bore the cost. The continued closure of the Nassib crossing, a key trade artery, will show how quickly Amman and Damascus move to contain the damage.