Jordan said on Monday its air force struck what it described as militant hideouts in southern Syria after determining that the attackers behind last week's deadly church attack were linked to "terrorist groups" operating there, Reuters reported. The Associated Press said the airstrikes were in retaliation for Friday's attack on a Greek Orthodox church in the southern Jordanian city of Karak, which killed nine people.

Source: Reuters via SRN News

The Jordanian military said the operation "resulted in the killing and wounding of many members of these terrorist groups and the destruction of a number of their vehicles", AP reported. It did not name the groups involved or give the precise location of the strikes, and Reuters noted there was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities on the initial announcement and it was not clear whether the strikes had been carried out after coordination with Damascus.

Source: AP via Gorge News Center

Syria's account differed sharply. Al Jazeera reported that Jordan said the strikes were launched in coordination with the Syrian government, but Syria denied coordinating with the Jordanian military. Syria's defence ministry, in a statement on Telegram reported by Al Jazeera, said one Jordanian attack hit five members of the same family, including three children, a woman and a man, and that two other strikes killed a 60-year-old man and a man aged 80, with the strikes hitting the southern Syrian provinces of Deraa and Suwayda. Al Jazeera's initial reports put the dead at at least seven, including a woman and children. Separately, the director of health in Daraa province, Khaled Al-Amyan, told Syria's state news agency SANA that at least five civilians had been killed, including women, children and a 65-year-old man, AP reported.

Source: Al Jazeera via Newsline24 / AP via Gorge News Center

The Syrian government said the Jordanian operation took place "without prior coordination or notification with the Syrian side", that Syrian authorities were investigating the circumstances and had opened communication channels with Jordan, AP reported. Following the strikes, Syria's border authority announced the closure of the Nassib border crossing with Jordan, suspending traffic in both directions, Al Jazeera reported; the Nassib crossing is Jordan's only passenger and commercial border crossing with Syria.

Source: AP via Gorge News Center / Al Jazeera via Newsline24

Earlier on Monday, Jordanian authorities arrested three men over the church attack after a dawn shootout in which all three were wounded, AP reported. Jordan's Public Security Directorate identified them as brothers Hazzah Zaidan Mohammad and Mishal Zaidan Mohammad and their brother-in-law Ahmad Sami Hussein, all Jordanians, taken into custody in Karak. Jordan's interior minister said there was "no indication of any external contacts or collaboration with foreign parties" among the suspects, according to reporting summarised from Arab News, Al Jazeera and France 24 — a point that sits uneasily beside the military's stated link to groups in Syria.

Source: AP via Gorge News Center

The attack on Friday struck the Greek Orthodox church during a funeral in Karak, about 90 kilometres (55 miles) south of the capital Amman, killing nine people and wounding more than two dozen, AP reported. Jordan declared three days of mourning; no group immediately claimed responsibility and the attackers' motive remained unknown, AP said. Al Jazeera reported that King Abdullah II pledged a stern response and said those behind the attack would face the harshest penalties.

Source: AP via Gorge News Center / Al Jazeera via Newsline24