Jordan has carried out airstrikes against armed groups in Syria in retaliation for Friday’s attack on a Greek Orthodox church in the southern Jordanian city of Karak that killed nine people, the Jordanian air force has said in a statement.

It said the operation “resulted in the killing and wounding of many members of these terrorist groups and the destruction of a number of their vehicles”. It did not specify who the groups were or the precise location of the strikes.

Syrian state media reported that civilians had been killed in the strikes. The director of health in the southern province of Daraa, where the strikes took place, told the Syrian national news agency, Sana, that at least five civilians had been killed, including women and children and a 65-year-old man.

Jordan’s armed forces said the operation was conducted in coordination with Damascus, but Syria’s government gave a contradictory account, saying it had launched an investigation into the ⁠Jordanian attacks, and stressed in a statement the…