Jordan thwarts repeated attempts by Syrian cells to smuggle weapons and drugs into its territory. These cells are run by the Syrian security services, as well as the Lebanese “Hezbollah” and Iran, as the Jordanian army announced, on December 18, 2023, the thwarting of a large-scale attempt to smuggle drugs, machine guns and missiles. – For the first time – into the country, after several days in which the number of smuggling attempts decreased.

The source of concern for the Jordanian authority comes from two points: First, Iran is the one that is moving these networks for the sake of a plan specific to its expansionist policy. The second is that Syria did not take any action regarding what is happening on the Syrian-Jordanian border. Amman expressed its annoyance on more than one occasion about the Syrian side’s failure to fulfill its military and security obligations on the border, and that the border has become protected from one side.

Last Thursday, Jordanian fighter jets carried out several air strikes on sites in the Suwayda Governorate in southern Syria believed to be linked to drug smugglers. Amman did not claim responsibility for these air strikes, which will be the third time that Jordan has bombed Syrian territory since the beginning of 2024, and at least 9 people were killed, according to what the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at the time.

Letter bombs between Syria and Jordan

On the Syrian side, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned in a statement yesterday, Tuesday, the recent supposed Jordanian air strikes against suspected drug traffickers on Syrian territory, including the raid that took place last week, which resulted in the deaths of women and children.

The Damascus statement stated that “there is no justification for such military operations,” adding that “since 2011, Syria has been suffering from the influx of tens of thousands of terrorists and the passage of huge quantities of weapons from neighboring countries, including Jordan.”

The statement of the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this regard is the first of its kind, as this is the first time that Damascus has condemned the Jordanian air strikes, on the one hand. On the other hand, political analysts say that the Syrian statement in this way may be the beginning of a new phase of tension in relations between Damascus and Oman.

In this regard, the political researcher, Islam Al-Mansi, in his interview with Al-Hal Net, confirms that this statement by Syria is witnessing a kind of transformation, from ignoring the situation to formal condemnation, because Jordan has suffered greatly from drug smuggling on its borders.

Also, everything stated in the Syrian statement is devoid of credibility, according to Al-Mansi, because the Syrian side is responsible for the drug trade and its transportation to the Arabian Gulf region and the West under the support and sponsorship of Iranian militias, so that the areas controlled by the Syrian army contain factories for the production and manufacture of drugs.

Amman tried to respond to its neighbor’s statement with another statement by the ministry’s official spokesman, Sufyan Al-Qudah, in which she said: “The smuggling of drugs and weapons across the Syrian border into Jordan is a danger that threatens national security, and that Jordan will continue to confront this danger and all those who stand behind it.”

The judges stated that Jordan provided the Syrian government during the meetings of the joint committee that the two countries had formed with the names of the smugglers and the parties behind them, and the places of drug manufacturing and storage and their smuggling lines, which are within the control of the Syrian government, but that no real measure was taken to neutralize this danger, pointing out that Until smuggling attempts witnessed a serious increase in their number.

The official spokesman rejected any suggestions that the Jordanian border was once a source of threat to Syria’s security, or a crossing point for terrorists, whom Jordan was the first to confront. Rather, it has always been and will remain a valve of safety, support and support for Syria and its people in neighboring Daraa and Suwayda and throughout Syria.

The judges stressed that Jordan is capable of protecting its borders and security from drug and weapons smuggling gangs and “will defeat them and end the danger they pose through the efforts of the valiant armed forces and security services.”

The Jordanian statement seems to contain a great deal of confidence, clarity, and insistence on keeping its country’s borders safe in the face of any threat, as Jordan is struggling to secure its 400-kilometre border with Syria, which has been largely evacuated by regular forces. The statement may suggest a retreat from the “soft diplomacy” policy pursued by Amman towards Damascus, accompanied by a growing sense of Iranian efforts to spread chaos within the country’s territory.

Iranian militias are secretly igniting the situation

In light of these mutual statements between the two parties, we must beware of Iran’s attempts to exploit the war in Gaza as an opportunity to undermine Jordan’s stability and sovereignty, either through ongoing drug smuggling attempts or through pressure on Jordanian politics through gatherings on the Jordanian border.

Iran has long been trying, through the militias it supports in Syria, to destabilize Jordan by flooding the country with drugs, and using Jordan as a corridor for smuggling weapons and drugs from Syria.

It has been noted that Iran and its affiliated terrorist groups are now exploiting the war in Gaza to implement their plans, and are encouraging mass gatherings on Jordan’s borders with Iraq and attempts to penetrate the borders under the slogan “in solidarity with Gaza.”

They are also trying to inflame Jordanian public opinion with calls to escalate popular resistance inside Jordan, calls that were also made by the spokesman for the military wing of Hamas, Abu Ubaida.

In this context, the political researcher, Saad Al-Share’, in his interview with Al-Hal Net, believes that the issue is that the Iranian militias are present on the northern borders of Jordan and are in complete control of most of the Syrian regions in southern Syria, specifically in Daraa Governorate, and these The militias mainly promote drugs inside and outside Jordan because they are the main target of Iranian forces.

Official Jordanian military statements regarding drug smuggling across the Syrian border were few and far between, but they have come on an almost daily basis in the past two years. Many incidents led to injuries and deaths on the Jordanian side, prompting the country’s army to announce a change in the rules of engagement at the beginning of 2022.

About 40 investigation documents and judicial rulings related to drug cases showed the involvement of women and minors from the eastern Syrian desert, especially from Suwayda, in smuggling operations. These transformations, which coincided with the control of the Syrian army and its affiliated militias over the south of the country six years ago, left the Jordanians feeling… Oman has become the next target for Iran’s expansionist ambitions in the region, after tightening its grip on four Arab capitals: Damascus, Baghdad, Beirut, and Sana’a.

Earlier, the former head of the Jordanian Narcotics Control Department, retired Major General Tayel Majali, said, “Historically, the northern Jordanian border represented the only crossing gateway for drugs coming from Syria towards the Gulf countries and the region.” However, since Syrian President Bashar al-Assad regained control of southern Syria under a settlement agreement with the opposition factions, Iranian militias, including the Lebanese Hezbollah, have been managing smuggling operations by “recruiting, training, and arming local residents in the Syrian desert, taking advantage of their deteriorating economic conditions.” .

Arab presence and Syrian absence

Although the Arab axis welcomed the return of Syrian President Bashar Al-Sad to the fold of Arab legitimacy or to the “Arab League” by the end of 2023, Syria did not take any step indicating that it had changed its policy that undermines the stability of its neighbors.

Jordan and all the Gulf states “normalized” their relations with Damascus on the condition that the authorities combat the scourge of drug smuggling and arms smuggling into the Gulf via Jordan, and smuggling operations from Syria, which are sponsored and carried out by the Iranians in coordination with them.

Jordan also presented its initiative in 2021, which seeks a peaceful solution in Syria through “the comprehensive goal is to reach a political solution that preserves the unity, safety and sovereignty of Syria, gradually addresses all the consequences of the crisis, and restores to Syria its security, stability and regional status,” and set a vision for the direct involvement of a number of Arab countries support the Syrian government, emphasizing that “this Arab-led approach must be gradual.”

Also, after months of “soft diplomacy” with Syrian President Al-Assad, and attempts to “rationalize” Damascus’ position on drug smuggling and border control, Jordan publicly escalated its position towards Syria late last year for the first time since the launch of “Step for Step,” which helped break Bashar’s isolation. Assad in the Arab world after 12 years of isolation.

It seems that the Arabs are moving towards Assad, and he is heading towards Iran. According to the “Persian” website, Syrian Prime Minister Hussein Arnous stressed during his meeting with the Iranian ambassador to Damascus, Hussein Akbari, the importance of the meetings of the Syrian-Iranian Joint Supreme Committee that was held recently in Tehran, and the results that were reached. To reach it by signing important agreements and understandings in a number of vital areas, indicating the necessity of following up on the implementation of these agreements according to specific time programs, which will reflect positively and directly on the economic situation in both countries.

Jordan’s cooperation with the Free Syrian Army

The chief researcher at the New Lines Institute for Strategic Studies, Caroline Rose, said that the Kingdom of Jordan tried a large number of options to deal with the drug control file, but did not achieve anything, especially Russian patrols, but all the experiments did not achieve any results on the ground.

Although the Jordanian statement stressed its desire to cooperate with Damascus in order to eliminate drug smuggling across the border, Al-Mansi confirms to Al-Hal Net that “the Syrian regime did not take any serious and real step to implement what was agreed upon during the discussions.” previous bilateral.

Perhaps Al-Mansi’s words agree with what was stated on the “Syria TV” website. Colonel Farid Al-Qasim, commander of the “Free Syria Army” operating in the Al-Tanf area, revealed the existence of coordination with Jordan to combat drugs on the Syrian-Jordanian border, indicating that they are working to develop it with Jordanian government.

The street, in turn, says, “The Free Syrian Army, which has 600 fighters present in Area 55, their main mission is to cooperate with the American forces, but if the situation develops in drug smuggling, I believe that the Free Syrian Army can cooperate with the Kingdom of Jordan.”

In addition, there are leaks indicating that Jordan is on the way to concluding an agreement with the local factions in Suwayda Governorate to implement a separation belt that will end the existence of drug smuggling operations, especially after the head of the Sheikhdom of Akl of the Unitarian Druze sect in Suwayda, Hikmat Al-Hijri, announced his support for the Jordanian operations.

These developments, it is believed by researchers, are what ignited the fire in Damascus, which issued a statement of condemnation against the Jordanian strikes 5 days after it carried out the last operation, and after four previous air campaigns. Here, Assad is likely to begin a new plan to flood Jordan and its borders with Iranian militias based on developments. New suffix.

It seems that Al-Assad will resort to more and more cooperation with Iranian forces in order to control the border with Jordan, especially since the Israeli intelligence network “Intel Times” revealed earlier this month flights of aircraft belonging to the Iranian “Revolutionary Guard” to a military airport near Damascus International Airport.

By tracking the movement of non-combat military aircraft at Belli Airport over the past three weeks, 3 aircraft appeared on the airport’s runways on December 26, and one cargo aircraft on the 31st of the same month.

Satellite images also showed during the first week of this month, small and medium Iranian cargo planes made more than 10 flights to the military airport, and air navigation sites did not record any data for these flights during the hours before they appeared in satellite images on the airport’s runways, which indicates Until she arrives in stealth mode.

Some military sources confirmed that the Iranian militias brought in air defense systems around the airport at the beginning of November last year, made modifications to several buildings surrounding the airport, and worked to dig trenches, tunnels, and underground warehouses to store weapons and camouflage the presence of air defense vehicles and radar.

At the same time, the Al-Arabiya Al-Hadath website confirmed that the new Iranian-Syrian understanding stipulates that the Syrian army will stop placing obstacles in front of Iranian militias in southern Syria, which is understood to be an official concession to Tehran of the areas extending from southern Damascus to the borders of Jordan and Israel.

Finally, the ongoing crisis inside Syria and on its borders with Jordan, in the absence of a peaceful political solution, and with the economic collapse of Iran accompanied by international sanctions, will push the Iranian forces to penetrate further and extend their military and economic influence to search for an alternative in the illegal shadow economy that fills the economic bulldozing that it is experiencing.