Jordan's army says the country's air force has attacked cars that were at the kingdom's border with neighboring Syria.
An army statement says the attack happened Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. (0730 GMT). The statement says the camouflaged vehicles were driving in a rugged area near the border and ignored demands to stop from security forces.
The statement says Jordanian warplanes fired warning shots at the vehicles. The statement says the vehicles didn't stop and were then destroyed in airstrikes. The statement did not say how many vehicles were destroyed, nor did it offer casualty figures.
Were they entering or leaving Jordan? Rather dramatic to launch air strikes on civilian vehicles--even if painted in camo colors.
UPDATE: Entering Jordan:
Jordanian warplanes hit and destroyed several vehicles trying to cross the border from Syria, a government spokesman said on Wednesday, underlining Amman's concern about incursions from areas controlled by Syrian rebels.
They were "technicals," as the Somalia-inspired jargon would describe them--civilian vehicles with machine guns mounted on them. Apparently rebels--I assume of the jihadi bent since otherwise they'd have cooperated with Jordanian efforts to stop them.
I find it odd that the story says Jordan has minimal cooperation with rebels in southern Jordan, given that the southern rebels seem to be our main focus of late. Perhaps plausible deniability is strong.
UPDATE: Ah. Jordan is extremely sensitive about any rebels returning to Jordan after surviving in Syria:
Three years into Syria's civil war a growing number of Jordanian jihadists are coming home, some disillusioned by infighting within rebel ranks, others seeking a break from a draining and largely inconclusive conflict.
Up to a few months ago, Jordanian authorities were more discriminating with returning fighters, sometimes freeing "first-time offenders" who were deemed misguided after expressing regret for their actions.
Now, every detained returnee is whisked straight to court, although none have been accused of plotting attacks in Jordan.
The Jordanians don't mind if people go to Syria to fight. But if they don't die there, they should go elsewhere if they tire of the fight. Hence blowing up private vehicles carrying jihadis coming into Jordan.
