The Jordanian government admitted on Tuesday that a number of civilians had been killed in airstrikes conducted against so-called "Islamic State" militants in southern Syria on Monday night.
The Jordanian air force carried out the strikes on "terrorist groups" in the region in retaliation for last week's attack on a funeral at a Greek Orthodox Church in Jordan in that killed nine people, adding the strikes killed more than 20 IS fighters.
However, Syrian authorities contradicted the claim, saying the strikes in the Daraa and Sweida provinces had killed seven people including three children and a woman. Two men who were killed were reportedly elderly.
One resident, Masoud al-Salim, said he lost his wife, son and three grandchildren in one of the strikes that hit his home in the Syrian border village of Al-Tuff.
"I came running and found there was no house anymore, no tent, nothing. I couldn't find anyone," he told the Associated Press, which said he was rummaging through children's schoolbooks and toys in the rubble.
"I started looking under the rubble. I thought they might be buried there."
Jordan admits civilians killed
On Tuesday, Jordanian Communications Minister Mohammed al-Momani acknowledged the civilian casualties, which he said the Hashemite Kingdom regretted.
"Jordan always takes all precautions to avoid harming civilians," he said in a post on social media, insisting: "The operations were carried out based on field intelligence to neutralize confirmed threats and terrorist operations against Jordan."
He said the Jordanian air force had inflicted "heavy losses in IS ranks, estimated at more than 20 elements" and destroyed a "massive weapons depot belonging to the organization."
"Jordan refrained from targeting sites where intelligence indicated the presence of civilians and regrets the occurrence of civilian casualties," he added.
Middle East conflicts take toll on Jordan's tourism sector
Syria condemns 'violation'
Monday's operation sparked anger in Syria, where the Foreign Ministry condemned the strikes as an "unacceptable violation [of] and encroachment [into]" Syrian airspace.
While the Jordanian military claimed the strikes were conducted in coordination with Damascus, the Syrian government said they were carried out without prior coordination and announced an investigation.
Jordan and Syria maintained strong bilateral ties following the downfall of the Assad dynasty in December 2024 and the emergence of interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa's Islamist-led government.
Despite Monday's airstrike, Syria asserted that that both countries' leaderships will strengthen security coordination to "obstruct any efforts to destabilize the two countries' security and spill the blood of its people."
No group has claimed responsibility for the initial attack on the Greek Orthodox funeral in Jordan, but Jordanian security forces arrested three men – two brothers and their in-law – following a shootout earlier on Monday.
Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher
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