DAMASCUS — The foreign ministers of Syria and Jordan met in Damascus on Monday, November 9, for the first time since Jordanian airstrikes killed civilians in southern Syria last month, announcing a joint investigation into the incident and signing 11 new cooperation agreements, Reuters reported. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said Jordan had shown understanding and openness towards resolving the incident in Deraa province, and that the two countries had set up a joint security and technical committee to investigate the circumstances of the airstrikes.
Source: Reuters via Business Day, Nov 9 2026
Jordan said its strikes on October 26 targeted Islamic State militants linked to a deadly attack on a church in Jordan's Karak province. Syrian authorities said the strikes killed seven civilians, including three children. 'Work is under way to redress the harm and compensate the innocent victims,' Shibani told a joint press conference with his counterpart Ayman Safadi after the third session of the Syria-Jordan Higher Coordination Council, attended by high-level ministerial and technical delegations from both countries.
Source: Reuters via Business Day, Nov 9 2026
'Syrian blood is as precious to us as Jordanian blood,' Safadi said, renewing his condolences to Shibani and the families of the victims, and saying the ties between the two countries were strong, Reuters reported.
Source: Reuters via DevDiscourse, Nov 9 2026
Monday's Damascus meeting is the in-person follow-up to the earlier step Awaaz Punjab reported on October 28, when — after Jordanian strikes in Daraa and Sweida killed civilians — the two foreign ministers agreed by phone to form a joint security committee and the Nasib border crossing reopened. The committee announced then is now the body charged with investigating the strikes, and the relationship has moved from a phone call to a full council session and 11 signed documents. Read the earlier report: strikes, civilian deaths and the joint committee agreed by phone
What the 11 agreements cover
Shibani said bilateral relations were at their strongest in decades. The 11 cooperation documents cover investment, civil aviation, food security, cloud seeding in the Yarmouk River basin and a proposed railway connection linking Saudi Arabia to Turkey through Jordan and Syria, he said. Trade between the two countries has nearly tripled in the past year to $330 million — yaani about 33 crore dollars — and 20 of Syria's 22 ministries are now engaged in direct cooperation with Jordan, Shibani said.
Source: Reuters via MENA Today, Nov 9 2026
Safadi said the two countries were working together to combat drug trafficking, a longstanding security concern along their shared border. He also reaffirmed Jordan's support for Syria against Israeli attacks, urging international intervention to halt them before they pushed the region towards further escalation, Reuters reported.
Source: Reuters via Business Day, Nov 9 2026
What is solid
- Syria's Asaad al-Shibani and Jordan's Ayman Safadi met in Damascus on Monday, Nov 9 — the first such meeting since the Oct 26 Jordanian airstrikes — Reuters
- The two sides announced a joint investigation into the Deraa incident through a joint security and technical committee, and signed 11 cooperation agreements — Reuters
- Jordan says the Oct 26 strikes targeted Islamic State militants linked to a deadly church attack in Karak; Syrian authorities say seven civilians, including three children, were killed — Reuters
- The agreements cover investment, civil aviation, food security, Yarmouk basin cloud seeding and a proposed Saudi Arabia-to-Turkey railway via Jordan and Syria — Shibani, via Reuters
What is only claimed
- Who the Oct 26 strikes actually hit: Jordan says Islamic State militants; Syrian authorities say the dead were civilians — the joint investigation has not yet reported
- Whether compensation for the victims' families, which Shibani said is under way, has been agreed in amount or paid — no figure has been published
Why it matters beyond the two capitals
The meeting marks an effort to move past a rare diplomatic test for Damascus and Amman, which have expanded political, economic and security cooperation since the overthrow of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Reuters reported. A working Syria-Jordan border — on drugs, smuggling, water and trade — is also a stability question for the wider Levant, and for the Gulf-based Indian and Punjabi workers whose routes and remittance corridors run through a region where every border flare-up quickly reaches airports, shipping and oil prices.
What happens next
The joint security and technical committee's findings on the October 26 strikes are the next test: a published, agreed account of who was killed and why would close the incident; a disputed one would reopen it. After that, the railway and civil-aviation documents move from signatures to timetables — the stage at which earlier Syria-Jordan agreements since 2024 have either become working projects or quietly stalled.