Jordan kills 27 suspected drug smugglers in border shootout

Jordanian troops killed 27 suspected armed drug smugglers and wounded plenty of others trying to enter the nation from Syria at daybreak Thursday, the Jordanian army stated — the deadliest encounter thus far in a rising wave of confrontations on Jordan’s northern border.

The deaths come nearly two weeks after a Jordanian military captain was killed and three different army personnel have been wounded when smugglers reportedly shot at a military outpost as they tried to cross. That assault prompted a change within the guidelines of engagement governing smuggling operations, a Jordanian military official stated in a press release Thursday.

The military “will strike with an iron fist and cope with absolute power and firmness any infiltration or smuggling makes an attempt to guard the border,” stated the official, whose identify was not given.

The surviving smugglers, who the assertion stated have been “supported by different armed teams,” fled again into Syrian territory, forsaking a cache of medicine. Search operations have been ongoing to make sure the world was clear of individuals in addition to narcotics.

Footage revealed by the Jordanian military present drug-filled burlap baggage stacked contained in the trunk of a automobile. One other picture reveals a degree alongside the border — a snow-covered army highway with barbed wire on one aspect and guard towers on the opposite — the place the incursion occurred.

The smugglers hoped to benefit from a extreme snowstorm affecting the area, stated a Jordanian officer who spoke on situation of anonymity as a way to talk about the matter with a journalist.

During the last yr, Jordan has complained of a giant uptick in smuggling makes an attempt alongside its 225-mile border with Syria, which consultants say has changed into a regional middle for the manufacture and export of medicine equivalent to Captagon, an amphetamine that’s standard within the Center East and was typically used throughout Syria’s civil battle by combatants each to remain awake and to embolden themselves. The military thwarted about 361 smuggling makes an attempt final yr; one incident concerned intercepting a drug-delivery drone flying over the border.

Jordan and Lebanon perform as transit nations for Captagon shipments to Saudi Arabia, North Africa and Europe. Current months have witnessed drug busts with Captagon stuffed into pomegranates, oranges, milk cartons and different objects. In April, Saudi Arabia introduced a ban on Lebanese agricultural merchandise after capturing a big haul of Captagon-filled produce within the port of Jeddah. In November, Saudi authorities confiscated 2.3 million Captagon tablets at al-Haditha crossing on the border with Jordan.

Throughout Syria’s decadelong and still-ongoing civil battle, Jordan upped safety on its northern border as tons of of 1000’s of Syrians fled the violence; greater than 650,000 Syrian refugees stay in Jordan, official estimates say. Since then, the Jordanian military has deployed drones, night-vision and infrared scopes and patrols. Syrian authorities forces clawed again Syria’s southern border with Jordan from insurgent fighters in 2018.

Thursday’s inclement climate meant no drones might fly and visibility was low, presenting a chance for smugglers who crossed the border from a sparsely populated village on the border just a few dozen miles east of the Jordanian metropolis of Mafraq and south of the Syrian metropolis of Sweida, stated the Jordanian officer.

The change within the military’s guidelines of engagement, he added, was due each to a rise in incidents on the border and the smugglers’ use of arms.

Jordanian authorities stated during the last two days that they seized greater than 5 million Captagon tablets and 6,123 baggage of hashish close to the northeastern a part of the border.

Jordanian officers blame the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah and different Iran-backed militias allied with Syrian President Bashar Assad for the rise in smuggling from southern Syria. Hezbollah denies the allegation. An investigation final yr by pro-opposition information outlet Enab Baladi stated Sweida had grow to be a principal conduit for drug and arms smuggling into Jordan. Bedouin tribes with familial ties on either side of the border management the routes, the report stated.

Syria says it’s combating drug smuggling. Syrian safety officers have met with their Jordanian counterparts to debate border violations. Discussions, nevertheless, have led solely to non permanent reductions of smuggling actions that quickly get reversed, the Jordanian official stated.

The escalation in border confrontations comes amid a hesitant thawing of ties between Amman and Damascus.

Initially of the Syrian civil battle, Jordan offered some assist to the opposition, together with weapons, materiel and coaching, whereas sustaining some diplomatic hyperlinks with the Syrian authorities. In September, the Nassib-Jaber border crossing — a significant financial hyperlink between the 2 nations that noticed $1 billion in commerce earlier than the battle — absolutely reopened. A month later, Assad and Jordan’s King Abdullah II spoke for the primary time for the reason that begin of the battle.