Jordan Strikes Targets in Syria After Deadly Church Funeral Attack, Damascus Closes Border Crossing

Jordan has carried out an air strike on what its military described as "terrorist organisations" inside Syria, saying it was a response to an attack on a Christian funeral last week that killed nine people.

According to Jordan, its fighter jets killed and wounded "several terrorists" in the operation on Monday. The military offered no further details about the targets or the casualties. Amman said it had co-ordinated the strike with the Syrian government, but Syria said it had not been notified of the attack.

Syrian health officials told state media that five people died in the strike on a village in the southern province of Daraa. They said the dead included women, children and an elderly man.

The strike followed a shooting at a funeral held in a Greek Orthodox church in Karak on Friday. Nine people were killed and 34 others were injured in the attack.

Syria responded to the strike by closing its border crossing with Jordan. Nassib is the only crossing between the two countries that handles both passengers and commercial traffic. In a statement carried by state media, Syrian authorities said the decision meant "the complete suspension of passenger and commercial traffic in both directions, to ensure the safety of travellers and workers at the crossing."

The statement added that Syria had "opened direct channels of communication" with Jordanian officials. It also said it had begun "comprehensive investigations to establish the full circumstances of the targeting."

Earlier on Monday, senior Jordanian security officials said forces had arrested two brothers and their brother-in-law in connection with the church attack. The Public Security Directorate said the suspects, who were not named and whom it called "terrorists", were found hiding in an abandoned house in Karak before dawn.

Jordan's Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya told state-affiliated television that all of the attackers were Jordanians. He said they "had been holed up in a building in one of the villages near the site of the attack".