Jordanian Border Forces Engage Drug Smugglers Along Syrian Border Amid Regional Narcotics Crisis

The incident occurs amid years-long challenges with drug trafficking operations along the Syrian-Jordanian border, especially involving Captagon amphetamine pills.

Jordanian soldiers patrol along the eastern Jordan-Syria border, in al-Washash, Mafraq governorate, Jordan, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. (Photo: AP)
Jordanian soldiers patrol along the eastern Jordan-Syria border, in al-Washash, Mafraq governorate, Jordan, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. (Photo: AP)

Jan. 12, 2025

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The Jordanian Army stated on Sunday that its border guard forces engaged in clashes with drug trafficker groups trying to cross the Syrian-Jordanian border, underlining continued regional security challenges following Syria's recent political transformation.

According to a brief military statement reported by the Jordan News Agency (Petra), the traffickers tried to breach the kingdom's northern borders within the Eastern Military Zone's area of responsibility.

The incident occurs amid years-long challenges with drug trafficking operations along the Syrian-Jordanian border, especially involving Captagon amphetamine pills.

Jordanian officials, along with Western allies, had formerly accused armed militias - some affiliated with Lebanon's Hezbollah and controlling considerable portions of southern Syria - in the increase of drug and weapons smuggling activities, as reported by Reuters.

UN experts and American and European officials had earlier specified that illegal drug trade considerably funded the operations of Iran-aligned militias in the region.

Syria had developed as the primary regional hub for a multi-billion-dollar drug trade, especially centered around the locally manufactured amphetamine known as Captagon.

The situation has entered a new phase after the collapse of former President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The new Syrian administration has vowed to fight drug manufacturing and prevent trafficking operations into neighboring countries, with Jordan being a primary focus of these efforts.

In a considerable development after Assad's escape and the regime's fall, security forces under the new administration have raided dozens of drug manufacturing facilities and laboratories.

These operations showed that many facilities operated under the protection of the Fourth Division, previously led by Maher al-Assad.

The continuing border clashes underline the intricate security challenges facing Jordan and the broader region as they wrestle with the outcome of Syria's political change and its repercussions for regional drug trafficking networks.

This latest incident strengthens the continued nature of cross-border security threats, even as the new Syrian administration tries to dismantle the drug manufacturing and trafficking infrastructure that thrived under the previous regime.