Jordan Detects 160 Drug Smuggling Groups Operating behind its Border with Syria

A drone monitors the Jordanian-Syrian border. (AFP)
A drone monitors the Jordanian-Syrian border. (AFP)
TT
20

Jordan Detects 160 Drug Smuggling Groups Operating behind its Border with Syria

A drone monitors the Jordanian-Syrian border. (AFP)
A drone monitors the Jordanian-Syrian border. (AFP)

Jordan’s army announced that 160 groups of traffickers are operating in southern Syrian, near the border with Jordan. It also confirmed that security channels for communication are up and running with the Syrian regime regarding the matter.

Drug trafficking from Syria into Jordan is becoming “organized” with smugglers stepping up operations and using sophisticated equipment including drones, Jordan’s army said Thursday, warning of a shoot-to-kill policy.

Since the beginning of this year, Jordan’s army has killed 30 smugglers and foiled attempts to smuggle into the kingdom from Syria 16 million Captagon pills -- more than they seized in the whole of 2021 -- the military said.

Speaking to reporters, senior officer, Colonel Mustafa Al-Hiyari, said Jordan is “fighting an undeclared war” and that drug smuggling from Syria has forced stricter rules of engagement.

Hiyari noted that communications with the Syrian side have not been fruitful for a long time, which prompted Jordan to change its engagement policy.

“We got a very positive response from the Syrian government... but on the ground that does not last for long,” he added.

“We have confirmed information that some Syrian checkpoints cooperated with some smugglers in some cases... some checkpoints affiliated with the Syrian army helped smugglers and provided protection,” he revealed.

“But we cannot be certain that this was done on instructions from the Syrian army -- perhaps these are cases of corruption in these checkpoints,” Hiyari said.

On January 27 the army said it killed 27 traffickers in a clash as they tried to enter the kingdom from Syria.

It was the deadliest confrontation yet in the army’s fight against smugglers. Three other alleged traffickers have been killed in separate operations this year.

Hiyari told reporters that large amounts of illegal drugs have been seized since the beginning of the year.

This included 17,348 packs of hashish and more than 16 million Captagon pills -- compared to 15.5 million pills for all of 2021 and 1.4 million pills in 2020.

“Jordan is waging an undeclared war along the border against drug traffickers and those who back them,” Hiyari said.



UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
TT
20

UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli forces raided four of its schools in east Jerusalem, ordering their closure.

Israel has severed all ties with the agency, known as UNRWA, and bars it from operating in its territory. It says the agency allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, allegations denied by UN officials.

UNRWA said police entered a training center by force on Tuesday, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It said 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the Qalandiya Training Center.

It said police and city officials ordered the closure of three other schools in east Jerusalem, two of which proceeded with the school day.

Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said police did not enter the UN buildings and that Jerusalem municipal authorities carried out the closures. He said police were deployed to protect the city workers, using “riot dispersal” means in one case where a crowd threw stones at them outside a UN facility.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, said the raids were an “unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities,” and a “denial of the right to education for children and trainees.”