Public anger in Syria has threatened to boil over following disagreements between Amman and Damascus over Jordanian attacks on the southern Syrian regions of Deraa and Suwayda on Monday evening.
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anger → threaten → evening
Jordan said its air force had killed more than 20 ISIL (ISIS) fighters in retaliatory strikes on what it called “dens of terrorist organisations in southern Syria”, linked to suspects accused of being behind last week’s attack on a Greek Orthodox church in the kingdom, which was claimed by the group.
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which → say → group
But the next day, anger mounted in Syria as images spread of a slain grandmother and her three grandchildren.
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images → mount → grandmother
While Jordan has launched attacks on Syria in the past, including assaults that led to civilian casualties, this latest episode seems to have captured public anger.
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episode → launch → anger
“The anger also reflects an expectation that the authorities in Damascus should now be able to protect Syrians and demand answers when they are killed or harmed,” Navvar Saban, a researcher in security and military affairs at the Arab Center for Contemporary Syrian Studies, told Al Jazeera.
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Saban → reflect → Jazeera
“If people feel Damascus is more concerned with protecting the relationship with the Jordanians than accountability, some of the anger could turn inward.”
uncertain
some → feel → anger
Monday’s attack reportedly came in response to the assault on a Greek Orthodox church that killed nine people and wounded at least 34 others in the village of Hamoud in the Karak governorate, about 120km (75 miles) southwest of the capital, Amman.
uncertain
that → come → capital
Jordanian authorities said the attack was carried out by “extremist terrorists”.
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attack → say → terrorists
Jordan’s King Abdullah II promised to respond with an “iron fist”.
“
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II → promise → fist
Jordan has absorbed many terrorist attacks before, but this one was especially brazen given the Christian church and the nature of the event being targeted,” Sean Yom, an expert on Jordan at Temple University in the United States, told Al Jazeera.
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Yom → absorb → Jazeera
“Because of its unprecedented nature, explicitly targeting a protected Christian minority in the tribal heartland of Karak, the government instantly felt popular demands to show results from the investigation and arrest of the perpetrators.
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government → target → perpetrators
This pressure to be responsive is especially acute right now, because security and policing remain core strengths of the Jordanian state.”
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security → remain → state
Jordanian authorities arrested three men connected to the attack on the church on Monday.
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authorities → arrest → Monday
That evening, Jordan also launched the attack on southern Syria, which it said was carried out in coordination with authorities in Damascus.
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it → launch → Damascus
But Damascus has contradicted that account.
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Damascus → contradict → account
The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it had informed Jordan of its “complete reservation” over the attacks, and said they took place “without prior coordination or notification with the Syrian side”.
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they → say → side
An official described the strikes as “treacherous”.
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official → describe → strikes
“Both governments have something to defend politically,” Saban said.
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Saban → have → something
“Amman wants to show that it acted against a serious threat through legitimate security channels.
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it → want → channels
On the other hand, Damascus cannot afford to appear to have approved an operation that killed Syrian families.
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that → afford → families
The investigation needs to establish who communicated with whom, when, and about which target.
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who → need → whom
Until then, I would avoid either assuming Syria secretly approved everything or treating the coordination as a simple misunderstanding.”
The family’s bodies were recovered after they were killed by the Jordanian strike on a tent in the village of al-Taff, in the Lajat area of northeastern Deraa province.
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they → avoid → province
Syria’s civil defence said three other family members were wounded in the attack.
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members → say → attack
Meanwhile, in the al-Shayah farms near Nassib, in the Deraa countryside, an 80-year-old man named Riyad Karrad was also killed by a strike.
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man → name → strike
Another man named Mutlaq Abu al-Khalil, 60, was killed in Shuhayb, in Suwayda’s northern countryside.
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man → name → countryside
Syrian customs authorities closed the Nassib border crossing with Jordan on Tuesday, before reopening it to passenger and commercial traffic on Wednesday.
Syrian-Jordanian relations
Jordan has launched several air strikes on Syria since 2023.
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Jordan → close → 2023
It says those strikes generally target arms or drug smugglers.
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strikes → say → arms
Under the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad, southern Syria became the site of cross-border drug smuggling, including the stimulant captagon.
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Syria → become → captagon
Some of those operations are believed to have continued after the fall of the Assad regime.
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Some → believe → regime
At times, the Jordanian strikes have killed civilians, such as a January 2024 attack that Human Rights Watch said killed women and children.
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Watch → kill → women
Since the fall of the regime in December 2024, relations between Amman and Damascus have been lukewarm, though slowly improving.
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relations → improve → Amman
Analysts say this is down to shared interests.
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this → say → interests
“Syria needs healthy trading and commercial partners like Jordan, and Jordan wants Syria to become more secure and coherent for three reasons,” Yom said.
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Yom → need → reasons
“A strong and friendly Syria can accept more repatriated refugees from Jordan, where there are still hundreds of thousands.
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Syria → accept → thousands
It can also help seal the porous border and prevent arms and drug smuggling activities along their shared frontier.
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It → help → frontier
And lastly, a stronger allied Syria helps Jordan resist Israel’s creeping annexation, including the West Bank as well as more parts of Syria and Lebanon.
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Jordan → ally → Syria
So both have mutual interests tied to their sovereignty in maintaining good relations.
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both → have → relations
Amman was also the site of a July 2025 trilateral agreement signing between Syria, the US and Jordan aimed at resolving internal disputes over violence in Suwayda.
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Amman → aim → Suwayda
“Only days before the strike, the two foreign ministers were discussing a strategic partnership and preparing another meeting of their High Coordination Council that is a significant investment in the relationship,” Saban said.
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Saban → discuss → relationship
Both governments have strong reasons to keep cooperation over the border, armed groups smuggling, etc.
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governments → have → border
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
