Damascus and Amman Contradict Each Other Over Strike That Killed Civilians in Southern Syria

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. Analysts say accountability is needed to quell the public outrage.

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.

But the next day, anger mounted in Syria as images spread of a slain grandmother and her three grandchildren.

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.

Navvar Saban, a researcher in security and military affairs at the Arab Center for Contemporary Syrian Studies, said the anger also reflected an expectation that the authorities in Damascus should now be able to protect Syrians and demand answers when they are killed or harmed. If people felt Damascus was more concerned with protecting the relationship with the Jordanians than accountability, some of the anger could turn inward, he said.

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 120 kilometres (75 miles) southwest of the capital, Amman. Jordanian authorities said the attack was carried out by extremist terrorists.

Jordan's King Abdullah II promised to respond with an iron fist.

Sean Yom, an expert on Jordan at Temple University in the United States, said Jordan had absorbed many terrorist attacks before, but this one was especially brazen given the Christian church and the nature of the event being targeted, in the tribal heartland of Karak where a protected Christian minority lives. Because of its unprecedented nature, the government instantly felt popular demands to show results from the investigation and arrest the perpetrators, he said.

Jordanian authorities arrested three men connected to the attack on the church on Monday. That evening, Jordan also launched the attack on southern Syria, which it said was carried out in coordination with authorities in Damascus.

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. An official described the strikes as treacherous.

Saban said both governments had something to defend politically. Amman wanted to show that it acted against a serious threat through legitimate security channels. On the other hand, Damascus could not afford to appear to have approved an operation that killed Syrian families. The investigation needed to establish who communicated with whom, when, and about which target, he said.

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. Syria's civil defence said three other family members were wounded in the 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. Another man named Mutlaq Abu al-Khalil, 60, was killed in Shuhayb, in Suwayda's northern countryside.

Syrian customs authorities closed the Nassib border crossing with Jordan on Tuesday, before reopening it to passenger and commercial traffic on Wednesday.

Syria's Foreign Ministry condemned the strikes as a violation of the country's sovereignty but seemed to indicate relations with Amman would continue to be strengthened. It said Damascus was coordinating with Amman to establish a joint security committee to strengthen border security and prevent similar incidents.