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Syria reopened its main border crossing with Jordan on Wednesday as the two countries agreed to establish a joint security committee to investigate deadly Jordanian airstrikes in southern Syria that killed seven people and strained relations between the neighbors.
The agreement followed a phone call late Tuesday between Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi, according to a joint statement.
The committee will examine the circumstances and aftermath of Monday's airstrikes while developing mechanisms for intelligence sharing and security coordination aimed at protecting civilians and safeguarding Syrian sovereignty.
The main Nassib border crossing, known as Jaber on the Jordanian side, was closed following the strikes. Passenger and commercial traffic was set to resume Wednesday morning, senior Syrian customs official Mazen Alloush told state news agency SANA.
The Jordanian military launched the strikes in retaliation for a deadly attack on a church in southern Jordan last Friday, triggering what was described as the most serious diplomatic crisis between the two countries since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December 2024.
During Tuesday's phone call, Safadi expressed “deep regret and sorrow” over the civilian casualties and offered condolences to the Syrian people, according to the joint statement.
He said the strikes had targeted sites belonging to Daesh and were based on intelligence indicating confirmed threats and imminent attacks against Jordan.
Safadi also reaffirmed Jordan's respect for Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity, emphasizing that the security and stability of the two countries were closely linked.
The ministers agreed on the importance of direct security coordination to address shared threats, protect civilians and combat cross-border weapons and drug smuggling.
A joint security committee is expected to meet in the coming days to discuss the military operations and strengthen cooperation between the two countries, a government source told SANA.
Syria's Emergencies and Disaster Management Minister Raed al-Saleh said Tuesday that both sides were addressing the dispute through "diplomatic and legal channels" to secure justice for the victims.
Despite the diplomatic efforts, Damascus strongly condemned the Jordanian military operation, saying it had been conducted without prior coordination with Syrian authorities.
In a statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry expressed its "condemnation and rejection" of the strikes, calling them "an unacceptable violation and breach of Syrian airspace without any prior coordination."
The ministry also described the operation as "a blatant violation of the principles of good-neighbourliness and Syrian national sovereignty."
Jordan, however, maintained that it had coordinated the airstrikes with Syria, a claim rejected by Damascus.
Seven people were killed and three others injured in the strikes, Syria's Al-Ekhbariya TV reported Tuesday, citing the Daraa provincial health directorate.
According to Syrian authorities, five people, including a woman and three children, were killed in the village of Al-Taf in Daraa province, which borders Jordan. Two others were killed elsewhere in southern Syria.
Jordanian government spokesperson Mohammad al-Momani, meanwhile, said the strikes had inflicted significant casualties on Daesh fighters.
"The preliminary results... indicate significant losses among Daesh's ranks—estimated at more than 20 fighters," he said.
Momani also said "a large weapons depot belonging to the organisation" had been destroyed.
The Jordanian military announced Monday that it had targeted positions belonging to groups it linked to a shooting at a Greek Orthodox church in the village of Hamoud in Jordan's southern Karak governorate.
Gunmen opened fire during a funeral service Friday, killing nine people and wounding 25 others, according to Jordan's Public Security Directorate.
Jordanian authorities subsequently arrested three suspects, all Jordanian nationals, following a three-day manhunt.
Two of the suspects are brothers, while the third is related to them by marriage. All three were wounded during a shootout with security forces and taken to a hospital for treatment.
Jordan's King Abdullah II vowed that those responsible for the attack would face punishment.
"We vowed the terrorists would not escape punishment, and no proponent of dark ideologies that divide Jordanians will be tolerated," the king said.
Karak is home to a significant Christian community in predominantly Muslim Jordan, where Christians account for approximately 2% to 3% of the population.
The attack prompted Jordanian authorities to launch a military response across the border, although the two countries have offered conflicting accounts of whether the operation was coordinated in advance.
Daesh was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 after controlling large areas during the country's more than 13-year civil war.
However, remnants of the group remain active and occasionally claim attacks, primarily targeting Syrian security forces. The organization has previously maintained a presence in parts of Daraa province.
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