Laith Al-jnaidi, Mohammad Sio and Rania Abushamala
09 November 2026•Update: 09 November 2026
Syria and Jordan signed 11 cooperation documents on Monday, including a memorandum on a rail link that would pave the way for a regional corridor connecting Saudi Arabia and Türkiye through the two countries.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani announced the agreements at a joint news conference with his Jordanian counterpart, Ayman Safadi, at Tishreen Palace in Damascus.
Shaibani said the third session of the Syrian-Jordanian Higher Coordination Council began Sunday with talks covering 19 sectors and concluded Monday with a ministerial meeting, bilateral talks and the signing of the documents.
The agreements also cover cloud seeding in the Yarmouk River basin, food security and supplies, investment, civil aviation, scholarships and academic exchanges.
Shaibani said the two countries agreed to upgrade the Jaber–Nasib border crossing for round-the-clock operations, with separate lanes for trucks and passengers and an electronic link between their customs systems.
They also approved a $47 million project to rehabilitate a highway linking them. The two sides are studying the creation of a joint economic city on the border and discussed modernizing their free trade zone and activating their joint business council, he added.
Shaibani said bilateral trade nearly tripled in one year to $330 million.
Joint inquiry into Daraa incident
Shaibani said the two countries formed a “joint security and technical fact-finding committee” to establish what happened in Syria’s southern Daraa province. He said work was underway to compensate victims and address the harm caused by the incident.
On Oct. 26, Jordan’s military said it carried out an air operation against sites it described as belonging to terrorist groups in southeastern Syria in response to an attack on a church in the town of Hmoud in Jordan’s Karak governorate.
Amman said the operation was coordinated with the Syrian government. Damascus said the strikes hit sites in Daraa without prior coordination, killing and injuring people.
“We regret the civilian deaths in the Daraa incident and offer our sincere condolences to their families,” Safadi said.
He said a security committee had agreed to establish procedures for coordinating counterterrorism efforts. He described drugs as a “shared threat” that the two countries were working together to tackle.
Energy and regional issues
Shaibani said gas has reached Syrian power plants through Jordan since January and that Syria is ready to transit gas to Lebanon, an issue discussed at a trilateral meeting in Beirut.
He said the two countries were sharing water data through a joint platform and had reached a new air services agreement. They also discussed supplying Jordan with surplus Syrian wheat and barley and agreed to train 1,450 Syrian government employees.
Safadi, meanwhile, called on the international community to act to stop Israeli attacks on Syria, warning of further regional escalation. He said Jordan would continue to support Syria’s security, stability and reconstruction.
On April 18, 2025, Syria and Jordan agreed to establish the Higher Coordination Council to strengthen cooperation across several sectors, including energy, health, industry, trade, transportation and agriculture.
