Jordan’s government said on Tuesday that civilians were among those killed when its air force struck alleged Islamic State targets in southern Syria the night before, an admission that came as Syrian officials offered a different casualty count and accused Amman of entering Syrian airspace without permission.
The Jordanian military presented Monday night’s operation as a response to last week’s assault on a Greek Orthodox funeral in Jordan, which killed nine people. Amman said the raid against terrorist groups in the region killed more than 20 Islamic State fighters. Syrian authorities, however, said seven people died in Daraa and Sweida provinces: three children, a woman and three men, two of whom were described as elderly.
- Key Point: Jordan has acknowledged civilian deaths from its airstrikes in southern Syria while describing the operation as a counterterrorism mission.
- Key Point: Amman says the raid answered the funeral attack that killed nine people, and that more than 20 IS fighters died and a weapons depot was destroyed.
- Key Point: Syrian authorities report seven deaths in Daraa and Sweida, including three children and one woman, and say two of the dead men were elderly.
- Key Point: Damascus condemned the strikes as an intrusion into its airspace, denied that the raid was coordinated and announced an investigation.
Amman voices regret while defending the strike
On Tuesday, Mohammed al-Momani, the communications minister, acknowledged that civilians had died and said the Hashemite Kingdom was sorry. In a social media post, he argued that Jordan tries to protect noncombatants and that the mission rested on intelligence about specific threats.
Jordan always takes all precautions to avoid harming civilians.
The operations were carried out based on field intelligence to neutralize confirmed threats and terrorist operations against Jordan.
Al-Momani said the air force had inflicted:
heavy losses in IS ranks, estimated at more than 20 elements.
He also said a
massive weapons depot belonging to the organization
had been destroyed. He added that Jordan had avoided locations where intelligence suggested civilians were present.
Jordan refrained from targeting sites where intelligence indicated the presence of civilians and regrets the occurrence of civilian casualties.
Syrian toll and a family’s loss in Al-Tuff
Syria’s account differed sharply. Its authorities said the strikes in Daraa and Sweida killed seven people, among them three children and one woman, and that two of the men who died were elderly.
Masoud al-Salim, a resident of the border village of Al-Tuff, told the Associated Press that a strike hit his home and killed his wife, his son and three grandchildren. The AP reported that he searched the wreckage amid children’s schoolbooks and toys.
I came running and found there was no house anymore, no tent, nothing. I couldn’t find anyone.
I started looking under the rubble. I thought they might be buried there.
Damascus rejects coordination claim and condemns the raid
Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned the operation as an unacceptable intrusion into Syrian airspace, using the phrase:
unacceptable violation [of] and encroachment [into]
The ministry’s anger followed an operation that caused outrage in Syria. Jordan’s military said it acted in coordination with Damascus, but Damascus said the two sides had not coordinated beforehand and opened a probe.
The two countries had maintained strong bilateral ties after the Assad dynasty fell in December 2024 and Ahmad al-Sharaa, the interim president, took office with an Islamist-led administration. Despite Monday’s airstrike, Syria said both leaderships would strengthen security coordination to:
obstruct any efforts to destabilize the two countries’ security and spill the blood of its people.
Nobody has said it carried out the first assault on the Greek Orthodox funeral. Security officers in Jordan detained three people — two siblings and a relative by marriage — after a gunfight earlier that day. Elizabeth Schumacher edited the report.
The original report also included a video segment on how Middle East conflicts are affecting Jordan’s tourism sector.
The dispute leaves Amman and Damascus balancing a shared interest in security cooperation against a public argument over sovereignty and civilian harm. Jordan has now acknowledged that its raid killed civilians while presenting the operation as a response to a confirmed terrorist threat. Syria has rejected the coordination claim, opened an investigation and condemned the incursion. Both governments still say they intend to tighten security coordination, but that pledge will be tested by whether Damascus accepts Amman’s explanation and whether further operations follow. For two neighbors that had worked to rebuild relations after the fall of the Assad dynasty, the raid shows how quickly a counterterrorism action can become a test of trust. The admission does not settle the central disagreement: Amman frames the raid as a limited strike against a known threat, while Damascus frames it as an unauthorized intrusion that killed noncombatants. That gap matters because the two governments had recently restored ties and now say they want closer security cooperation. A single operation has thus produced competing narratives, an investigation and a test of whether shared security interests can survive public anger. The next statements from both capitals will indicate whether the dispute remains a diplomatic argument or becomes a deeper rupture.