Jordan: Combat vehicles from Syria destroyed

Jordanian air force fighter jets have destroyed a number of combat vehicles trying to cross into the kingdom from neighboouring Syria, according to the army.

A Syrian military source cited by state television in Damascus said, however, that the vehicles that were struck on Wednesday did not belong to Syria's armed forces.

The air strikes were the first time Jordan has used fighter jets to deal with such infiltrations.

"Royal air force jet fighters today at 10:30am destroyed a number of vehicles that attempted to cross into Jordan from Syria," the Jordanian army said in a statement.

"The camouflaged vehicles tried to enter from an area with rugged terrain.

"The fighter jets fired warning shots, but they were ignored, prompting them to destroy the vehicles. The army will not tolerate such actions."

The statement did not say how many vehicles were in the convoy, nor did it offer casualty figures, the AP news agency reported. It also did not specify whether the vehicles were targeted on Syrian or Jordanian soil.

But a military official told AFP news agency in Amman that "they were three wheeled vehicles which tried to enter the kingdom" near Ruwaished, in northern Jordan.

Immediately after news emerged of the air strikes, a Syrian military official said no military vehicles had been heading towards the Jordanian border, according to a statement released on state-run television.

"No military or armoured vehicles belonging to the Syrian army moved towards the Jordanian border, and so what was targeted by the Jordanian air force does not belong to the Syrian army," the statement said in a breaking news alert.

Jordan's border guards in recent weeks clashed with and arrested several people as they attempted to cross from Syria into the kingdom.

The kingdom has struggled to cope with hosting more than 500,000 Syrian refugees uprooted by the conflict.

It has been careful in dealing with the conflict, repeatedly expressing fears that it could spread, and concerns about the impact of its fighters.

Syria has accused Jordan of backing the three-year uprising against President Bashar al-Assad by training and arming rebels, but Jordan denies this and says it has tightened its border and jailed dozens trying to cross it 
illegally.

King Abdullah II has vowed to protect Jordan from the Syrian war, while the US announced its F-16 fighter jets and Patriot missile interceptors will remain in the kingdom at the end of military exercises.

At the same time, Jordan says arms smuggling across the border with Syria has risen by 300 percent in the past year.

Agencies