After Jordan strikes Syria in retaliation for a church massacre, Damascus has shut its main southern border. On Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, Syria closed the Nassib crossing, known as Jaber on the Jordanian side, a day after Jordanian warplanes hit targets in Daraa and Sweida provinces that Amman linked to last week’s deadly attack on a church in Karak.
Syria’s General Authority for Ports and Customs said all passenger and commercial traffic in both directions was suspended “due to the current circumstances” and to protect travelers and staff, according to Anadolu Agency and Al Arabiya. Nassib is the only passenger and commercial crossing between the two countries, which makes the closure a direct hit to trade and travel across the Jordan-Syria frontier.
Jordan strikes Syria over the Karak church attack
The Jordanian air force said it carried out the raids on Monday evening, Oct. 26, against “terrorist organisations” in retaliation for Friday’s shooting at a funeral in a Greek Orthodox church in Karak. That attack killed nine mourners and injured 34, the BBC reported. The military said the operation killed and wounded “many members of these terrorist groups” and destroyed several vehicles, according to AP, but it did not name the groups or give exact locations.
Jordanian security forces earlier on Monday arrested two brothers and their brother-in-law over the church shooting, finding them before dawn in an abandoned house in Karak, the BBC said. Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya told state-affiliated television the attackers were all Jordanian. The Boston Report covered the Karak shooting alongside other attacks that weekend in our report on attacks in France, Jordan and the West Bank.
Civilian deaths reported in Daraa and Sweida
Syrian officials gave a different picture of who was hit. Syria’s Civil Defence said crews recovered seven bodies from at least four sites, three men, a woman and three children, Al Jazeera reported. Five members of one family were killed when a strike hit a tent in the village of Al-Tai in Daraa province, according to the service. A second strike in Al Shayyah killed an 80-year-old man, a third hit a residential building in Muzayrib without casualties, and a fourth killed a 60-year-old man in Shahba in Sweida province.
The Daraa Health Directorate put the toll at six, including three children and an elderly man, with four people injured, according to Anadolu. Syria’s state news agency SANA, quoting a health official, said the victims included women and children. These casualty figures come from Syrian government bodies and have not been independently verified.
A dispute over coordination
The two governments also disagree on whether Damascus was told in advance. Jordan’s armed forces said the raids were carried out “in coordination with the Syrian government,” Al Jazeera reported. Syria’s government denied that. A statement carried by SANA said “no prior coordination with the Syrian side was carried out,” and the Foreign Ministry said it had told Amman of its “complete reservation” about military operations on Syrian soil without notice, according to Al Arabiya. A Syrian Foreign Ministry official called the strikes a “treacherous attack” in comments to Al Jazeera, while also saying Damascus wanted to manage the fallout in a way that protects Syrian sovereignty.
Syria said it had opened direct channels with Jordanian officials and launched an investigation, according to the BBC.
What the Nassib closure means
The crossing reopened in 2018 after years of war and has become an important artery for Syrian exports to the Gulf and for Jordanian trucks heading north. Its closure strains a relationship that both governments had been working to repair since the fall of the Assad government. It also adds a new flashpoint in a region already shaken by the war with Iran, Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and the Mecca Pact security talks in Tehran. Neither government has said when the crossing will reopen.
Sources
- BBC: Jordan says ‘terrorists’ killed in Syria in retaliatory strike
- Al Jazeera: Jordan strikes Syria after church attack
- Anadolu Agency: Syria closes border crossing with Jordan
- Al Arabiya: Syria closes main border crossing with Jordan
- AP: Jordan says it struck militants in Syria tied to church attack
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