Jordanian jets carried out four airstrikes on suspected drug traffickers and drug labs in southern Syria on Tuesday, the second such raid in a week, according to regional intelligence sources.
The sources said three of the strikes targeted prominent drug traffickers in the towns of Al-Sha’ab and Al-Urman in Suwayda province, near the Jordanian-Syrian border. The fourth strike hit a farm near the village of Al-Mallah.
“The Jordanians are targeting farms suspected of storing drugs before they are smuggled across the border, as well as the homes and hideouts of known drug traffickers,” said Ryan Ma’rouf, a Syrian activist and researcher.
Ma’rouf, who is the editor-in-chief of the Suwayda 24 news website, added that the latest strikes “indicate that Jordan is stepping up its war on drug traffickers.” The strikes come after Jordan carried out similar airstrikes in Suwayda on Thursday.
Jordanian officials have said that Amman has received promises of American military aid to improve security. The United States has already provided about $1 billion to build border posts since the Syrian conflict began in 2011.
Jordanian and Western officials often accuse the Lebanese Hezbollah group and other Iranian-backed factions that control parts of southern Syria of being behind the increase in drug and weapons smuggling.
United Nations experts and American and European officials have previously said that illegal drug trafficking is funding the expansion of Iranian-aligned militias.
In contrast, Iran and Hezbollah have rejected these allegations, calling them a “Western conspiracy” against Damascus. The Syrian government, for its part, has denied accusations that some of its security forces are colluding with Iranian-backed militias in these smuggling operations.
Washington and Western anti-drug officials believe that Syria has become the main hub in the region for drug trafficking, which is estimated to be worth billions of dollars, particularly Syrian-made amphetamines known as Captagon.
