The Briefing
- Three Jordanian men — two brothers and their brother-in-law — were arrested Monday after a pre-dawn standoff in Karak, identified as the gunmen who opened fire on nine mourners at a Greek Orthodox church funeral on October 23. No armed group has officially claimed responsibility for the attack.
- Hours after the arrests, Jordan's Royal Air Force struck militant positions across Syria's Daraa and Sweida provinces, citing the same networks as connected to the attack; Syria said the strikes occurred without any prior coordination or notification.
- At least seven civilians died in the Syrian strikes, the Nassib border crossing — the only land link between the two countries — was closed by Damascus, and a diplomatic dispute has since widened between Amman and the Syrian government.
Jordan's Royal Air Force launched retaliatory strikes Monday evening against suspected militant positions in southern Syria, days after three gunmen massacred nine worshippers at a Greek Orthodox church in Karak. By the time the bombs fell on Daraa and Sweida provinces, Jordanian security forces had already arrested the three men believed responsible — and a diplomatic storm between Amman and Damascus was only just beginning.
A Church Funeral Became the Target
Three assailants stepped out of a vehicle on the afternoon of Friday, October 23, and opened fire at St. George's Greek Orthodox Church in the village of Hammoud, Karak governorate, as hundreds of mourners gathered for a burial ceremony. The gunfire continued for roughly five minutes before the attackers fled the scene. The death toll stood at seven by nightfall and climbed to nine over the following day as additional victims died from their injuries at nearby hospitals. Casualty estimates for the wounded varied across sources, ranging from 28 to 40, with health officials noting that at least 26 people remained hospitalized in the days that followed.
The church is located roughly 90 kilometers south of the capital, Amman, in a governorate home to one of Jordan's established Christian communities — a minority representing approximately two to three percent of the country's population of some 11.5 million. The assault drew immediate condemnation from regional governments, international organizations, and religious leaders, including Pope Leo XIV, who expressed solidarity with the victims and their families.
King Abdullah Vows an Iron Fist
King Abdullah II arrived in Karak within hours of the shooting, visiting the wounded at Prince Ali Military Hospital in military uniform and vowing that the perpetrators would face "the harshest penalties." He directed security services to conduct a nationwide review of safety procedures and declared three days of national mourning, with flags lowered across government buildings and public institutions. Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya described the attackers' ideology at a press conference as "a terroristic, extremist way of thinking," while investigators cautioned that it was too early to confirm whether the gunmen were connected to any organized external network.
Three Suspects Named and Captured After Armed Standoff
By early Monday morning, Jordanian security forces had tracked down the three men wanted for the killings. The Public Security Directorate identified them as brothers Hazzah Zaidan Mohammad and Mishal Zaidan Mohammad, and their brother-in-law Ahmad Sami Hussein — all Jordanian nationals. The trio had taken shelter in an abandoned house in Karak, where a substantial cache of weapons and ammunition was also recovered. All three sustained gunshot wounds during the security operation and were taken into custody; no security officers were reported injured.
At a subsequent press conference, Public Security Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Obaidallah Abd Rabbo Al-Maayta described the gunmen as takfiri — a term applied to Sunni militants — but was explicit that they were not affiliated with any organized group. "They only represent themselves," he told reporters. As of this report, no armed organization has officially and verifiably claimed responsibility for the October 23 attack.
Jordan's Warplanes Target Southeastern Syria
That same Monday evening, the Jordanian Armed Forces announced it had struck what it described as militant hideouts in southeastern Syria, asserting that the targeted networks bore links to those who carried out the Karak church attack. Arab News reported that the strikes hit several sites in Daraa and Sweida provinces. The military's statement said the operation resulted in the "killing and wounding of many members of these terrorist groups" along with the destruction of vehicles, without naming specific groups or specifying precise locations.
Syria's government said the entire operation was carried out without "prior coordination or notification with the Syrian side," according to the Associated Press. Syrian officials said Amman and Damascus had since opened direct communication channels to address the situation. The Jordanian government, for its part, called for expanded military and security coordination along the border going forward.
Civilian Deaths and a Closed Border
Syria's civil defense teams documented a toll that extended well beyond militant positions. Five members of one family — including a woman and three children — were killed when a strike destroyed a tent shelter in rural Daraa province, with three more relatives wounded in the same attack, according to AP. An 80-year-old man and a 60-year-old man were each killed in separate strikes, bringing the confirmed civilian death toll from the White Helmets civil defense group to seven. Syria's Daraa health directorate placed the figure at a minimum of five. Where sources gave conflicting numbers, the more conservative figure was applied.
Syria's Foreign Ministry condemned the campaign as an unlawful strike on Syrian sovereign territory and said it was engaging Amman through diplomatic channels to assert its position. In the most direct and immediate consequence, Syrian authorities shut down the Nassib border crossing — the only active land corridor for passengers and commercial freight between the two countries — suspending all traffic in both directions.
A Fraught Bilateral Relationship Under New Strain
The week's violence landed atop a relationship already burdened by years of cross-border smuggling activity tied to armed groups operating in southern Syria. The Times of Israel and other regional outlets noted that Jordan has faced persistent pressure over the security of its northern border. Human rights observers have repeatedly called on Amman to ensure accountability when its airstrikes produce civilian casualties in Syria — a standard that the deaths this week make impossible to avoid. Jordan has expressed a desire to deepen security cooperation with Damascus going forward, but that ambition faces a steep climb given Syria's sharp rejection of these strikes, its closure of the shared border, and the grief reverberating on both sides of a line that fewer people can now legally cross.
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