Jordan's FM visits Damascus to smooth relations after deadly air raid

Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi travelled to Damascus on Monday and met his Syrian counterpart for the first time since a deadly aerial attack marred relations between the two countries.

Syrian official media published photographs of Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani receiving Mr Safadi at the airport in Damascus. The Jordanian delegation includes army chief Maj Gen Majdi Al Harasis, indicating that security will be high on the agenda of official talks.

Syria and Jordan hope to benefit from the Iran war by becoming transport corridors that could reduce reliance on the Strait of Hormuz, despite border issues between the two countries.

Late last month, Jordan carried out air strikes south of Damascus in response to a shooting attack at a church in the village of Hmoud, 80 kilometres south of Jordan's capital Amman, that killed nine people.

Syrian authorities said at least seven people were killed in the strikes – three children, a woman and an elderly man – and summoned Jordan’s ambassador to Damascus to lodge a protest.

Jordan, meanwhile, said its armed forces killed at least 20 ISIS members in the strikes and regretted any civilian casualties.

The Iran war has thrust Syria and – to a lesser degree – Jordan into the limelight by the Strait of Hormuz blockade, affecting supplies worldwide and forced countries to seek alternatives.

A regional push is under way to develop transport links between Saudi Arabia and Turkey through Syria and Jordan to allow cargo to flow either by land directly to Europe, or to Syrian and Turkish ports, then on to Europe or elsewhere.

In April, Turkey, Jordan and Syria agreed to develop a “north-south” transport corridor, with a modernised motorway system that would eventually be linked to the Saudi railway network. Riyadh said a feasibility study for the railway section would be completed by the end of this year.

Jordan's economy has been stagnant for 15 years, while Syria's infrastructure and economy, hit by decades of mismanagement followed by the civil war from 2011 to 2024, are in dire need of investment. Transit fees could become a source of hard currency for the cash-strapped Damascus government.

Jordan and Syria never had close ties during the 54-year rule of the Assad regime in Damascus. In April, King Abdullah II received a delegation of 15 Syrian ministers in Amman, underscoring the high stakes.

Mr Safadi had publicly identified the main issues between the countries as the smuggling of weapons and drugs, water rights concerning a joint dam, and stability in Syria's southern province of Sweida, which borders Jordan. Many civilians, most of whom were Druze, were killed when Syrian government forces, supported by Bedouin fighters, attacked Sweida last June to try to take control of the Druze-majority province.

Southern Syria has been a major source of drugs, particularly the amphetamine-like Captagon, since 2018. Smuggling attempts have decreased since former president Bashar Al Assad was toppled in December 2024.

On Monday, the Jordanian military said its troops had foiled an attempt to smuggle in large quantities of drugs in guided balloons. The interception occurred in a region under the Jordanian Eastern Military Region Command, which is responsible for areas bordering Syria and Iraq. The military did not say from where the balloons had come.