The Jordanian army announced Thursday that its forces thwarted an attempt to smuggle drugs from Syria using a drone.
“An Eastern Military Zone unit shot down a drug-filled drone flown across the border from Syrian territory,” read a statement by the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF).
The drone was intercepted and shot down immediately by the ground forces, a JAF source said, adding that drugs were found after swiping the crash area.
The army will not tolerate any attempt to infiltrate the kingdom’s borders, the source stressed.
Jordanian authorities often announce killing smugglers and thwarting drug smuggling operations on the border with Syria, but this was the first time it announces downing a drone used for this purpose.
In other news, a US outpost in southern Syria was also attacked by a drone on Wednesday.
The garrison, known as Tanf, is located in a strategic area near Syria’s Tanf border crossing with Iraq and Jordan. It was first set up when ISIS militants controlled eastern Syria bordering Iraq.
Explosions were heard in al-Tanf military base due to drone shelling on the buffet, a mosque and a warehouse of food supply inside the base, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.
It’s unknown yet whether ISIS or Iranian militias backing regime forces were responsible for the shelling, the war monitor noted. However, no casualties have been reported yet.
“We maintain the inherent right of self-defense and will respond at a time and place of our choosing,” the Central Command stressed.
