Syria Shuts Its Only Border Crossing With Jordan After Deadly Jordanian Airstrikes — and the Two Sides Can't Agree on What Happened
Syria closed the Nassib border crossing with Jordan on Tuesday, suspending all passenger and commercial traffic in both directions, hours after Jordanian warplanes struck targets in southern Syria.
Nassib — known as Jaber on the Jordanian side — is the only crossing between Jordan and Syria serving both passenger and cargo traffic, and the primary artery for the movement of travelers, trucks and commercial exchange between the two countries.
The closure
Syria's General Authority for Border Crossings and Customs announced the closure on Tuesday, citing the security situation in Daraa province, the state news agency SANA reported. The decision suspends all passenger and commercial traffic in both directions to ensure the safety of travelers and border crossing personnel. No date has been set for reopening.
The strikes that triggered it
On Monday, October 26, the Royal Jordanian Air Force carried out strikes against several sites in Daraa province in southern Syria. Jordan's armed forces said the targets were hideouts used by terrorist groups, in an operation Jordanian media named "Jordanian Deterrence."
The strikes were retaliation for a mass shooting at a church funeral last week. Gunmen attacked the Greek Orthodox St. George's Church in the village of Hammoud, in Jordan's Karak governorate, on Friday, October 23, killing nine people and wounding more than two dozen.
Jordanian security forces arrested three local suspects accused of carrying out the attack — two brothers and their brother-in-law. Jordan said the attackers were linked to "terrorist groups" operating in the area. King Abdullah II visited the injured at Prince Ali Military Hospital in Karak, according to a Royal Palace handout released by AFP on October 23.
Two versions of the same operation
Jordan's armed forces said the operation was carried out in coordination with Damascus. The Syrian government offered a different account, saying it had not been notified of the attack and had launched an investigation.
Syria's foreign ministry said it had conveyed its "complete reservation" over strikes carried out without prior coordination, and stressed the importance of field and security coordination in border areas. Damascus said it has opened direct communication with Amman to discuss the consequences.
The casualty dispute
A health official told Syria's state news agency that five civilians, including women and children, had been killed in the Jordanian attacks.
Syria's Civil Defence gave a higher preliminary figure: seven people, including three children and a woman, killed and three others wounded, after its emergency teams responded to four sites hit in the countryside of Daraa and Sweida provinces. Syria's defence ministry said one strike hit five members of the same family, and that two other strikes killed a 60-year-old man and a man aged 80.
Jordan said the strikes killed or wounded several suspected militants and destroyed sites and equipment, but it did not identify the groups targeted or give its own casualty figures.
The figures have not been independently verified, and the Jordanian military statements reported so far do not address civilian casualties.
A sudden diplomatic crisis
The immediate cross-border escalation plunges Amman and Damascus into a sudden diplomatic crisis over military coordination — and leaves regional transit severed while Syrian officials maintain they have opened direct communication channels with Amman to establish the circumstances of the raids.
The Nassib crossing holds strategic importance for the transport of transit goods destined for regional and Gulf markets. With no reopening date announced, trucks and travelers on both sides are now waiting to see whether the two governments can agree on what happened — and what happens next.