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Jordanian Army Downs Drone from Syria Carrying Meth

A picture released by the Jordanian Armed Forces website shows what it said is a drone carrying drugs from Syria that the Jordanian army intercepted and downed on Jordan's side of the border, Jordan July 24, 2023. JORDAN ARMED FORCES/Handout via REUTERS
A picture released by the Jordanian Armed Forces website shows what it said is a drone carrying drugs from Syria that the Jordanian army intercepted and downed on Jordan's side of the border, Jordan July 24, 2023. JORDAN ARMED FORCES/Handout via REUTERS
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Jordanian Army Downs Drone from Syria Carrying Meth

A picture released by the Jordanian Armed Forces website shows what it said is a drone carrying drugs from Syria that the Jordanian army intercepted and downed on Jordan's side of the border, Jordan July 24, 2023. JORDAN ARMED FORCES/Handout via REUTERS
A picture released by the Jordanian Armed Forces website shows what it said is a drone carrying drugs from Syria that the Jordanian army intercepted and downed on Jordan's side of the border, Jordan July 24, 2023. JORDAN ARMED FORCES/Handout via REUTERS

The Jordanian military on Sunday downed a drone carrying crystal meth that was flying into Jordanian territory from neighboring Syria, the state news agency Petra reported.
War-torn Syria has become a hub for a multi-billion-dollar drugs trade, with Jordan a main transit route for a Syrian-made amphetamine known as captagon, Western anti-narcotics officials and Washington say.
Citing a source within the Jordanian armed forces, the state agency said in a statement the drone was "taken control of and downed", Reuters reported.
The Jordanian military has previously downed drones from Syria carrying narcotics or weapons but has rarely identified seized drugs as crystal meth.
Military and security officials from Jordan and Syria have met to discuss ways to curb the growing smuggling problem. Despite pledges by Damascus, Jordan says it has not seen any real attempt to clamp down on the illicit trade.
There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities. In an interview last week, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denied Syria's role in the drug trade, saying that ending narcotics smuggling was a common interest that Syria shares with Arab countries.

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Syria Monitor: 101 Killed in Battles between Pro-Türkiye, Kurdish Forces

A fighter affiliated with Syria's new administration shoots at pictures of Syria's ousted president Bashar al-Assad (R) and his late father and former president Hafez al-Assad, inside the abandoned Syrian Republican Guard (SRG) base near Damascus on January 4, 2025. (Photo by Bakr ALKASEM / AFP)
A fighter affiliated with Syria's new administration shoots at pictures of Syria's ousted president Bashar al-Assad (R) and his late father and former president Hafez al-Assad, inside the abandoned Syrian Republican Guard (SRG) base near Damascus on January 4, 2025. (Photo by Bakr ALKASEM / AFP)
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Syria Monitor: 101 Killed in Battles between Pro-Türkiye, Kurdish Forces

A fighter affiliated with Syria's new administration shoots at pictures of Syria's ousted president Bashar al-Assad (R) and his late father and former president Hafez al-Assad, inside the abandoned Syrian Republican Guard (SRG) base near Damascus on January 4, 2025. (Photo by Bakr ALKASEM / AFP)
A fighter affiliated with Syria's new administration shoots at pictures of Syria's ousted president Bashar al-Assad (R) and his late father and former president Hafez al-Assad, inside the abandoned Syrian Republican Guard (SRG) base near Damascus on January 4, 2025. (Photo by Bakr ALKASEM / AFP)

More than 100 combatants were killed over the last two days in northern Syria in fighting between Turkish-backed groups and Syrian Kurdish forces, a war monitor said on Sunday.
Since Friday evening, clashes in several villages around the city of Manbij have left 101 dead, including 85 members of pro-Turkish groups and 16 from the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The SDF said it had repelled "all the attacks from Türkiye’s mercenaries supported by Turkish drones and aviation".
The Turkish defense ministry said it had "neutralized" 32 Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, without providing further details.
Turkish-backed factions in northern Syria resumed their fight with the SDF at the same time as the opposition armed factions were launching an offensive on November 27 that overthrew Syrian president Bashar al-Assad just 11 days later.
The pro-Ankara groups succeeded in capturing Kurdish-held Manbij and Tal Rifaat in northern Aleppo province, despite US-led efforts to establish a truce in the Manbij area.
The fighting has continued since, with mounting casualties.
During a visit to Damascus on Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said security of the Kurds is "essential for a peaceful Syria." She said this requires "an end to the fighting in the north and the integration of the Kurdish forces... in the Syrian security architecture."
The SDF controls vast areas of Syria's northeast, and parts of Deir Ezzor province in the east, where the Kurds created a semi-autonomous administration following the withdrawal of government forces during the civil war that began in 2011.
The group, which receives US backing, took control of additional territory after capturing it from the ISIS group.
Ankara accuses the main component of the SDF, the People's Protection Units (YPG), of affiliation with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a decades-long insurgency in southeastern Türkiye and is banned as a terrorist organization by the government.
The Turkish military regularly launches strikes against Kurdish fighters in Syria and neighboring Iraq, accusing them of being PKK-linked.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria's new leader and the head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, told Al Arabiya TV in late December that local Kurdish-led forces should be integrated into the national army.
HTS led the coalition of opposition groups that overthrew Assad last month.