By Taylor Luck –
AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan charged Sunday that four Syrian missiles had landed in the country’s northern region, injuring a child and several others.
The government summoned the top Syrian diplomat in Amman to protest the missiles, according to Samih Maaytah, a spokesman for the Jordanian government. The Syrian ambassador, Bahjat Suleiman, was called after the missiles reportedly landed in the residential area in the Jordanian border city of Al Turra.
It was not clear whether missiles were aimed at elements of the rebel Free Syrian Army in Jordan, or at a convoy that might have been carrying Syrian Vice President Farouk Shara, who reportedly has defected to Jordan.
In a written statement, Maaytah said the government handed Syria’s Suleiman a petition underlining the government’s “rejection” of the firing of missiles into Jordanian territory and urging Damascus to ensure that a similar incident “does not happen again.”
The child, who according to witnesses was injured when a missile landed in front of her home near the Al Turra commercial district Sunday evening, was listed in “stable condition.” Four other residents were currently being treated for shock, Maayatah said.
Al Turra, located a little over a mile from the Syrian border city of Daraa, is a well-known stop-off on the human-smuggling route to Jordan and has received thousands of the 150,000 Syrians who have fled to Jordan since March 2011.
Security sources confirmed that four missiles originating from Syria landed in northern Jordan late Sunday, which Maaytah indicated were apparently aimed at Free Syrian Army fighters.
But Abu Mohammed, a Syrian opposition activist with ties to the Free Syrian Army currently residing in Jordan, claimed that the missiles were intended for a convoy that Damascus believed to be containing Shara. Activists say Shara has been staying in a Daraa safe-house the past three days.
In a statement issued last week, the Free Syrian Army announced that Shara, a former foreign minister and longtime regime insider, had broken ranks with Syrian President Bashar Assad and had crossed into Jordan.
Amman has refused to either confirm or deny the reports.
