Syria Jordan Border Reopens as Nassib Crossing Resumes Traffic After Deadly Strikes

Photo: Salah Malkawi/Getty Images via Al Jazeera (file photo)

Syria reopened its main border crossing with Jordan on Wednesday morning, days after Jordanian air strikes on suspected ISIL sites in southern Syria killed seven people and pushed the two neighbours into their worst crisis since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

The Nassib crossing, known as Jaber on the Jordanian side, is Jordan's only border crossing with Syria open to passenger and commercial traffic. Its reopening, confirmed by Syrian state news agency SANA, restores a vital trade and travel route that had been shut after Monday's strikes.

Main News Report

Al Jazeera reported that regular passenger and commercial traffic resumed at Nassib on Wednesday morning, and that the two countries will investigate the Jordanian strikes together.

The two foreign ministers agreed to form a joint security committee after a phone call late on Tuesday. The committee will examine what happened in the strikes and build closer field and intelligence coordination on militant threats, with the stated aim of protecting civilians.

CNA, carrying an AFP report, said senior Syrian customs official Mazen Alloush told SANA that movement through the crossing would return to normal from Wednesday morning.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shaibani that Jordan had "full respect for Syria's sovereignty and security". He also expressed sorrow over the death of innocent civilians, according to a joint statement.

• What reopened: the Nassib (Jaber) border crossing, on Wednesday morning
• Why it closed: Jordanian air strikes on southern Syria on Monday
• Death toll in Syria: seven people, including three children, according to Syrian officials
• Jordan's claim: more than 20 ISIL fighters killed in the strikes
• Next step: a joint Syrian-Jordanian security committee to probe the strikes

Background Context

The chain of events began last week in southern Jordan. Gunmen opened fire during a funeral service at a Greek Orthodox church in Karak, killing nine people. ISIL later claimed responsibility for the attack.

Jordan answered on Monday with air strikes on what it called ISIL hideouts in Deraa and Suwayda provinces in southern Syria. Syria's emergency ministry said its teams responded to attacks at four sites, and Syria's foreign ministry called the strikes an unacceptable violation of its airspace carried out without prior coordination.

The two sides also disagree on a basic point. Jordan said its strikes were coordinated with Damascus. Damascus denied that claim outright.

Jordan has since arrested three suspects over the church attack, two of them brothers. King Abdullah II said those behind the attack would not escape punishment.

This is the sharpest crisis between the two countries since Ahmad al-Shara's government took power in Damascus in December 2024 after toppling Bashar al-Assad. Jordan has backed the new Syrian government, which makes the public row over the strikes all the more striking.

Reactions and Statements

Safadi said Monday's attacks were based on field intelligence and aimed at stopping confirmed threats and imminent attacks on Jordan's security. He stressed Jordan's respect for Syria's sovereignty and stability in his call with al-Shaibani.

Syria's Emergencies and Disaster Management Minister Raed al-Saleh said on Tuesday that both sides were handling the dispute through diplomatic and legal channels, with the aim of securing justice for the victims.

In al-Taf village in Deraa, where five members of one family were killed, the human cost was laid bare. "We were asleep when the missile hit us. My mother, my older brother and his three children, two boys and a girl, were killed," resident Nassouh al-Salim told AFP, standing beside the rubble of his family's home.

The wider region is watching closely. The Middle East is already on edge, with Houthi missile claims against Saudi oil sites and a fragile calm around Iran, and a new front between two Arab neighbours is the last thing the region needs. Only days ago, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey held talks with Iran in Tehran aimed at stopping a wider Middle East war from reigniting.

Why This News Matters

For ordinary people, a border crossing is not an abstraction. Nassib carries traders, truck drivers, families and patients between Syria and Jordan. Every day it stays shut, goods pile up, trips are cancelled and families are kept apart.

For the region, the reopening matters because it shows the row is being managed, not left to fester. A joint committee is a small step, but it gives both sides a channel to argue about facts instead of trading strikes.

For Pakistan, the story is a reminder of how fast a single militant attack can pull two states towards conflict, and how quickly diplomacy has to move to pull them back. Pakistan has its own long experience of border tension, as this week's firing at Angoor Adda showed, and the same lesson applies: a closed border hurts civilians first.

Future Developments

Watch for three things. First, whether traffic through Nassib returns to normal levels this week, or whether checks stay tight. Second, what the joint security committee reports, and whether its findings are made public. Third, whether Jordan and Syria agree on how to handle ISIL remnants in southern Syria without another round of strikes.

If the committee's work holds, the crossing should settle back into routine trade. If new attacks or new strikes follow, the border could shut again just as fast as it reopened.

Sources

• Al Jazeera: Syria-Jordan border reopens amid probe into deadly air strikes
• CNA (AFP): Syria reopens Jordan border crossing after mending ties

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