Syrian Warplanes Attack Rebel Outposts Near Jordan Border

Rebels Respond by Firing Rockets at Military Airport

Rebels from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions along the Syria-Jordan border reported that they were hit with four airstrikes by Syrian warplanes overnight, the first time they’ve been directly targeted in the area in awhile. The rebels responded with rocket fire at a military airport nearby.

There was no report from the rebels of casualties from the strikes, and instead they focused on complaining that the strike was at targets that were 5 miles away from a refugee camp, though of course the camp itself wasn’t hit, or even close to it.

The Syrian government apparently also gave neighboring Jordan advanced notice of this latest attack, though they appear to have skimped on the details, just telling Jordan not to send any troops into Syria.

The rebels in the area mostly just control the border region itself, though they occasionally contest some of the southern Iraq/Syria border with ISIS. That they sometimes fight ISIS is also being used by the rebels to present the Syrian strike as “helping ISIS.”

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.