Over the past two months, attempts to smuggle out of Syria using drones have been repeated, and their cargo varied between narcotics and weapons.
Over the past years, Jordan has witnessed hundreds of infiltration and smuggling attempts, especially from Syria (north) and Iraq (east), as a result of the deteriorating security situation in the two neighboring countries.
Last Wednesday, the Jordanian army announced the downing of a march coming from Syria, which is the seventh this year, but it differs from its predecessors in the type of payload, as it was carrying TNT explosive materials, according to a statement by the Jordanian army.
Last July, the Kingdom witnessed a security meeting between Jordanian officials and others from the Syrian regime, to confront smuggling across the border between the two countries.
A number of experts say that the current situation requires the Kingdom to strengthen its security measures on the borders with its northern neighbor (Syria), especially in light of the change in the cargo of infiltrated planes, from narcotics to weapons and explosive materials.
Big challenge
The military analyst, retired Major General Mamoun Abu Nowar, considered that the drones represent a major challenge for Jordan, as it will remain exposed to this threat in the long term.
He added that these planes penetrate the border without being detected, and he expected that those who carry out these operations are armed groups and militias.
He pointed to Jordan’s need for great international effort and support to face these challenges, pointing out that this type of aircraft cannot be monitored at night and shot down, as this is done during the daytime because it is visible to the naked eye and with the help of some electronic devices, while radars are unable to track them because their footprint is small. Very, according to him.
isolating area
In turn, the military and strategic analyst Hisham Khreisat said that Jordan has the right and the ability to impose a buffer zone for areas that are a source of threatening its borders.
Khreisat, a retired brigadier general in the Jordanian army, added that the imposition of the buffer zone is what the Syrian regime fears, and what is certain is that stopping drug smuggling means that the regime will not be able to withstand, because its economy depends on it.
And last March, the US Treasury Department included personalities close to the family of the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, on the sanctions list, due to their role in the production and smuggling of the drug Captagon.
In the same month, the British Embassy in Lebanon said, in a statement it issued, commenting on the US Treasury’s decision, that the Syrian regime benefits from the Captagon drug trade at $57 billion annually.
She added that Captagon is a highly addictive drug used by abusers throughout the Middle East, and 80% of the world’s supply of this substance is produced in Syria.
The embassy indicated that the Syrian regime has a close role in this trade, as shipments worth billions of dollars leave from the strongholds of the regime, such as the port of Latakia, pointing out that Maher, the brother of President al-Assad, leads the Syrian army unit that facilitates the distribution and production of this narcotic substance.
