Syria slams Jordan over crossborder strikes, denies coordination: What to know

Syria on Tuesday condemned Jordanian airstrikes in its south that killed seven civilians, rejecting Amman’s assertion that it had coordinated with Syrian authorities before striking Islamic State (ISIS) militants allegedly linked to a deadly church shooting in Jordan.

What happened: In a statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry called the strikes in Daraa province an “unacceptable violation and breach of Syrian airspace without any prior coordination.”

Jordan’s public broadcaster Al Mamlaka reported Tuesday, citing a source, that the civilians killed in Monday’s strikes included the mother and three nephews of one of the suspected church attackers. The family members were living in a tent near one of the targeted sites, the report said.

The ministry said it is working with Jordan to “establish an urgent joint field and security committee to prevent further violations and secure the shared border” in response, the state news outlet SANA reported. 

Jordan struck parts of Daraa province Monday evening, saying it targeted ISIS fighters linked to Friday’s deadly attack on a Greek Orthodox church in southern Jordan, where gunmen opened fire on a funeral ceremony, killing nine people and injuring 40.

Jordanian government spokesperson Mohammad al-Momani said Tuesday on X that more than 20 ISIS fighters were killed and that weapons depots were destroyed in the strikes, adding that Amman has had an “Exhaustion of Patience Over Terrorist Movements.”

The Jordanian military said in a statement that the strikes were carried out "in coordination with the Syrian government," a claim Damascus denied. 

SANA reported that seven civilians — a woman, three children, an elderly man and two other men — were killed in the airstrikes. Hundreds attended a funeral for the victims on Tuesday in the town of Al-Taf in Daraa. 

Momani said in the post that the Hashemite Kingdom “Regrets Unintended Casualties” from the strikes and has “Deep Respect” for Syria. 

The strikes elicited widespread outrage on Syrian social media. 

Background: The strikes came after a shooting at a Greek Orthodox church in southern Jordan’s Karak province on Friday. Immediately after the shooting, Jordan’s King Abdullah II promised “harsh retaliation” for the incident, which he called a "terrorist attack."

On Monday, Jordanian authorities arrested three suspects in the attack, identifying them as two brothers and their brother-in-law. Following their arrest, Jordanian officials described the suspects as adherents of “takfiri” ideology, a term associated with Sunni Muslim militants who declare others apostates. 

Initially, Jordanian officials said they found no evidence of ties to organized militant cells, but later, Jordan’s military said an investigation had established links between the suspects and “terrorist groups” operating in southern Syria and identified the targets of its airstrikes as ISIS militants on Tuesday.

Why it matters: Jordan and Syria have cooperated on security since Ahmed al-Sharaa took power following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, but tensions have persisted over cross-border drug smuggling and other security threats along their shared border. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani met with King Abdullah in Aqaba last week to discuss bilateral ties.

Jordan has periodically launched airstrikes inside Syria, including a May operation targeting alleged drug traffickers in Suwayda as part of its yearslong effort to curb Syrian Captagon smuggling — a multibillion-dollar trade that boomed during the civil war. For its part, Syria reported foiling an attempt to smuggle 641,000 narcotic pills across the border into Jordan last week.

Sharaa, who commanded the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham during the civil war and led the rebel offensive to oust Assad, has sought to maintain stability along Syria’s borders, including its border with Jordan. Sharaa visited Amman in February 2025 just three months after he came to power. 

Know more: ISIS lost its territorial stronghold in Syria in 2019 but continues to operate through smaller cells and insurgent attacks. The group’s activity has largely been concentrated in central and eastern Syria, although it also maintains networks across the country, including in the south. Jordan has long viewed militant activity and cross-border drug and weapons smuggling along its border with Syria as threats to national security. ISIS had not executed any major attacks in Jordan before the Karak shooting.