Update: Jordan Strikes Armed Groups in Syria It Links to Karak Church Attack
Jordan's air force says it hit groups tied to the deadly church funeral shooting; Syria says seven civilians died and has closed the main border crossing.
See where this is ›AMMAN, Jordan —
Jordan's air force carried out airstrikes on armed groups in southern Syria on Monday night, Oct. 26, saying the groups were tied to Friday's deadly attack on a Greek Orthodox church funeral in Karak, The Associated Press reported in a story carried by The Times of Israel.
See where this is ›The Jordanian air force said the strikes killed and wounded “many members” of the groups and destroyed a number of their vehicles. It did not name the groups or say exactly where the strikes landed.
Syria gave a different account. Its civil defense agency said it recovered the bodies of seven people killed in strikes in Daraa and Sweida provinces, including five members of one family, three of them children, who died when a tent was hit in rural Daraa. The Syrian government said the strikes were carried out without coordination or notice, said it was investigating and had opened communication channels with Jordan, and its General Authority for Ports and Customs later closed the main Syria-Jordan border crossing. Jordan has not released casualty figures.
See where this is ›Nine people were killed and more than two dozen wounded when gunmen opened fire during a funeral at the church in the village of Hamoud in Karak governorate, about 55 miles south of Amman, on Friday, Oct. 23. Three Jordanian men, two brothers and their brother-in-law, were arrested Monday after a dawn shootout in Karak. Watchman News is not naming the suspects, who have not been tried.
Maj. Gen. Obaidallah Abd Rabbo Al-Maayta, who spoke for Jordan's security services, described the gunmen as takfiri militants but said they were not tied to any organized group. “They only represent themselves,” he said, according to the AP. Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya blamed “a terroristic, extremist way of thinking.”
King Abdullah II ordered authorities to respond with “an iron fist” and said in a Monday statement that the terrorists would not escape punishment. Khaled al-Borqan, a survivor who lost three relatives, told the AP the arrests eased some of the grief, while Fares Halaseh, a survivor and the uncle of one victim, said the pain remains. The AP report did not explain how Jordan linked the groups in Syria to the three men arrested in Karak.
What we don't know yet: The facts of the strikes are disputed. Jordan says it hit armed groups tied to the church attack, while Syria says civilians, including children, were killed. Neither claim has been independently confirmed, and the number of people killed is unknown. This report relies on the Associated Press.
