Jordanian aircraft strike Daraa and northern Sweida; Damascus says it was not told, and Nasib closes for a day

What happened

On the evening of 26 October 2026 Jordanian aircraft struck sites in Daraa governorate — al-Tuff in the Lajat, farms near Nasib, al-Muzayrib — and Shuhayb in northern Sweida. Jordan's government spokesperson, Mohammad al-Momani, said the strikes hit ISIS positions and a weapons depot chosen on field intelligence, that preliminary assessments showed more than twenty ISIS members killed, and that they followed the 23 October attack on a church in Karak which Jordanian authorities linked to militants operating from Syria; the Jordanian military said the operation was coordinated with Damascus. The Syrian government said on 27 October that there had been no prior coordination or notification, condemned the strikes as a violation of its sovereignty and opened investigations; Daraa's health director said seven people were killed, including three children, and Syria's Civil Defence gave the same toll. The General Authority for Borders and Customs closed the Nasib crossing to passenger and commercial traffic for 27 October, letting through returning pilgrims and humanitarian cases, and said traffic was back to normal on the morning of 28 October. On 27 October foreign ministers Asaad al-Shaibani and Ayman Safadi agreed by phone on the urgent need for a joint security committee; Safadi was reported to have expressed deep regret over the civilian deaths.

A new external actor using force in the south, and a public contradiction between two governments that describe each other as partners. What is established is the strikes, their places, the one-day closure and the statements; what is not is coordination, which Amman asserts and Damascus denies, and the toll, which each side gives in its own terms and nobody has reconciled. The episode de-escalated inside forty-eight hours into the same instrument the two governments agreed to form in January 2025 — a joint security committee, called for and not reported formed. For the module it is a fourth pressure on the southern corridor beside the Sweida standoff, Israeli operations and the unsigned security agreement, and the first closure day the corridor chain's watch item has recorded. Jordan's claim of ISIS positions in Daraa is carried as a claim on the ISIS-suppression question; the Karak attack and Jordan's investigation are a Jordanian matter.

Confidence: High