Reports: New Jordanian Strike in Southern Syria Hits Alleged Drug Factory

A picture shows a drone that was flying into Jordanian territories from neighboring Syria (Jordan Armed Forces)
A picture shows a drone that was flying into Jordanian territories from neighboring Syria (Jordan Armed Forces)
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Reports: New Jordanian Strike in Southern Syria Hits Alleged Drug Factory

A picture shows a drone that was flying into Jordanian territories from neighboring Syria (Jordan Armed Forces)
A picture shows a drone that was flying into Jordanian territories from neighboring Syria (Jordan Armed Forces)

A Jordanian airstrike has reportedly targeted an alleged drug factory in southern Syria, which has turned into a hotspot for manufacturing and smuggling drugs and weapons, and human trafficking.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Jordan will continue its war against militias smuggling drugs and weapons from Syrian territories.

Observers in Amman believe Syria needs more seriousness in implementing the commitments made at the meetings of the Ministerial Committee concerned with the Syrian crisis.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Thursday that warplanes "which are likely to be Jordanian" launched an airstrike targeting a drug-manufacturing factory near al-Ghariyah town in al-Suwaida countryside, which led to its destruction. No causalities were reported.

According to the Observatory, the raid included two successive bombings.

Local sources said that the bombed area has several farms and is considered a hub for drug smugglers in southern Syria, as Captagon trade and smuggling are active through these areas.

Amman has expressed its concern on several occasions about the ongoing arms and drug smuggling operations, which took a new and advanced turn after smugglers began using drones.

On Monday, the Jordanian Army said it downed a drone heading from Syria in the third such incident this month, while officials said an increase in weapons being smuggled across the border was raising concerns about a new threat beyond drugs.

The Jordanian Army has thwarted several operations to smuggle weapons, drugs, and explosives and attempts to infiltrate Jordanian territories. They arrested a few smugglers while the rest escaped to Syria.

Several journalists said that Jordanian officials were dissatisfied with Syria's response.

Last May, Jordan carried out rare airstrikes on southern Syria, hitting an Iran-linked drugs factory in Daraa and killing a smuggler allegedly behind big hauls across the two countries' border, local and intelligence sources said.

Back then, Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi declined to confirm his country had carried out the strike.

"When we take any step to protect our national security or confront any threat, we will announce it at the right time," he said during a press conference.

However, residents of Umm al-Rumman categorically denied any connection between the farm owner and smuggling operations and suggested that the Jordanian forces received false information, according to the local opposition website Al-Rased.

The opposition Suwayda24 network quoted Mansour Hassan al-Safadi, the farm owner, as denying any illegal activity on his farm, stressing that it is used for raising livestock, poultry, and for agricultural work.

He affirmed his support for any party that fights smuggling operations and said that the farm and its workers are not involved in any smuggling operations, suggesting the attack was likely the result of "misleading" information.



Red Cross Urges Unhindered Aid Access to Flood-hit and Freezing Gaza

Paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society protest over the deaths of their colleagues in the war between Israel and Hamas on February 11, 2024. Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images
Paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society protest over the deaths of their colleagues in the war between Israel and Hamas on February 11, 2024. Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images
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Red Cross Urges Unhindered Aid Access to Flood-hit and Freezing Gaza

Paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society protest over the deaths of their colleagues in the war between Israel and Hamas on February 11, 2024. Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images
Paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society protest over the deaths of their colleagues in the war between Israel and Hamas on February 11, 2024. Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images

The Red Cross called Wednesday for safe and unhindered access to Gaza to bring desperately needed aid into the war-torn Palestinian territory wracked by hunger and where babies are freezing to death.

Heavy rain and flooding have ravaged the makeshift shelters in Gaza, leaving thousands with up to 30 centimetres (one foot) of water inside their damaged tents, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.

The dire weather conditions were "exacerbating the unbearable conditions" in Gaza, it said, pointing out that many families were left "clinging on to survival in makeshift camps, without even the most basic necessities, such as blankets".

Citing the United Nations, the IFRC highlighted the deaths of eight newborn babies who had been living in tents without warmth or protection from the rain and falling temperatures, AFP reported.

Those deaths "underscore the critical severity of the humanitarian crisis there", IFRC Secretary-General Jagan Chapagain said in a statement.

"I urgently reiterate my call to grant safe and unhindered access to humanitarians to let them provide life-saving assistance," he said.

"Without safe access -- children will freeze to death. Without safe access -- families will starve. Without safe access -- humanitarian workers can't save lives."

According to a UN count, more than 330 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza since Israel unleashed its war there.

Chapagain issued an "urgent plea to all the parties... to put an end to this human suffering. Now".

The IFRC said the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) was striving to provide emergency health services and supplies to people in Gaza, with an extra sense of urgency during the cold winter months.

But it warned that "the lack of aid deliveries and access is making providing adequate support all but impossible".

The IFRC stressed that the closure of the main Rafah border crossing last May had had a dramatic impact on the humanitarian situation.

"Only a trickle of aid is currently entering Gaza," it warned.

It also lamented the "continuing attacks on health facilities across the Gaza Strip", which it said meant people were unable to access the treatment they need.

"In the north of Gaza, there are now no functioning hospitals," it said.

The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity warned that access to healthcare had also become "seriously compromised" in parts of the West Bank. It was seeing "a dramatic decline in children's mental health", it added.

It pointed in a statement to the drastic increase in restrictions imposed by Israeli forces since the start of the war in Gaza. In particular, it highlighted the situation in the Jaber neighbourhood inside the H2 area of Hebron City, which is under full Israeli military control.

MSF, which said it had been forced to suspend its operations for five months from December 2023, urged Israeli forces to "stop implementing restrictive measures that impede the ability of Palestinians to access basic services, including medical care".

MSF project coordinator Chloe Janssen warned that "although we are now able to provide care in the MSF clinic in Jaber neighbourhood, access remains challenging as our staff can be searched and delayed at the checkpoints to enter the H2 area.

"Access to medical care should never be arbitrarily denied, impeded or blocked."