Jordan and Syria to tackle arms and drugs smuggling, and Daesh resurgence

Jordan and Syria have agreed to form a joint committee to secure their border, fight arms and drug smuggling, and work to prevent the resurgence of Daesh/Islamic State, Jordan’s foreign minister said on Tuesday.

Western anti-narcotics officials say that the addictive, amphetamine-type stimulant known as captagon is being mass-produced in Syria and that Jordan is a transit route to the oil-producing Gulf states, Reuters has reported.

Jordan’s army has conducted several pre-emptive air strikes in Syria since 2023, which Jordanian officials say targeted militias accused of links to the drug trade and their facilities.

“We discussed securing the borders, especially the threat of arms and drugs smuggling and the resurgence of Islamic State,” said Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart Asaad Al-Shaybani. “Our security is one, we will coordinate together to combat these mutual challenges.”

Shaybani, who was in Amman after visiting Qatar and the UAE following the fall of President Bashar Al-Assad, told Safadi that drug smuggling would not pose a threat to Jordan under Syria’s new Islamist rulers. “The new situation in Syria ended the threats posed to Jordan’s security.”

Referring to the addictive captagon, he added: “When it comes to captagon and drug smuggling, we promise it is over and won’t return. We are ready to cooperate on this extensively.”

Source » middleeastmonitor.com