The Kingdom of Jordan carried out two rounds of airstrikes in Syria over the past week. They are important and carry a message.
The message is that Jordan wants to see more support for Syrian efforts to rein in drug-smuggling gangs in southern Syria. The drug gangs are a holdover from the Assad era, when Iranian-backed gangs worked with the Assad regime and Hezbollah to move drugs around the region. Much of the smuggling focused on Captagon.
These strikes have a wider messaging that also may be aimed at Israel’s policy in Syria, Jordanian newspaper Al-Ghad reported.
“Military strikes may be repeated soon, targeting undeclared alliances linked to drugs, weapons, funding, conflicts, separatist projects, the emergence of armed groups, and attempts to entangle Jordan in chaos,” the report said.
“Israeli actions contribute to creating risks exported to Jordan under separatist pretexts, while their real aim is destabilizing northern Jordan in preparation for a future stage,” it added.
The fall of Assad disrupted the Captagon trade and the gangs. These gangs had already destabilized the border with Syria from 2018 to 2024, because the Assad regime had been able to defeat Syrian rebels in southern Syria’s Daraa province and move the gangs close to the border with Jordan.
Over the past year, Syria has had a new transitional government. It has sought to return security to southern Syria and work with Jordan. But it has faced several challenges in dealing with the smuggling phenomenon and lawlessness.
One challenge for Damascus is that the Druze area of Sweida is now functioning as an autonomous area after clashes this year. Israel has backed the Druze, and Damascus has been told not to send security forces into Sweida.
As such, this area of independent control exists near the Jordanian border. Other groups may exploit this. Some pro-Damascus commentators blame the Sweida area for continuing the Assad-era drug smuggling.
Another issue is that Syria doesn’t have a large air force or many powerful army units, and the Syrian army is overstretched. It faces challenges of security in many areas.
Although it recently has been working more with US Central Command, as well as US-trained forces that came from Tanf in southern Syria, Damascus has many challenges in the south.
Israel’s call for demilitarization
A third issue is Israel’s call for demilitarization in southern Syria. Israel doesn’t want Syria to deploy army units to the Daraa or Quneitra areas. As such, Syria has trouble maintaining security.
Jordan joined anti-ISIS strikes alongside the US in December, and this helped pave the way for Amman to do more in Syria.
Jordan has opposed Israel’s airstrikes on the new government of Ahmed al-Sharaa in Syria. It also opposes Israeli operations in the border area near Quneitra and the Golan Heights.
“Jordan carried out a series of airstrikes in southern Syria’s Sweida province late Wednesday, targeting suspected drug-smuggling networks and storage sites near the border, Syrian media and a rights monitor reported,” China Global Television Network (CGTN) reported on December 25.
The same report noted that Syrian state-run Ikhbariya TV said the raids hit drug storage locations and a weapons facility used by armed smuggling gangs. It added that a former Syrian army outpost, recently repurposed for narcotics storage, was also destroyed.
CITING SYRIAN state-run Ikhbariya TV, the report said the raids had hit drug storage locations and a weapons facility used by armed smuggling gangs, adding that a former Syrian army outpost, recently repurposed for narcotics storage, was also destroyed.
“Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported multiple strikes in border areas and observed intensive aircraft activity,” CGTN reported.
Furthermore, “in a statement, the Jordanian Armed Forces confirmed it had ‘neutralized a number of arms and drug traffickers... along the northern border of Jordan’ and ‘targeted a number of factories and workshops used by these groups as hideouts’ for cross-border smuggling operations toward Jordan, without specifying the locations,” CGTN reported.
Meanwhile, English-language news site The New Arab reported: “Local sources told The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the Jordanian strikes targeted sites around the village of Al-Shaab in the southeast of the province, as well as sites around the town of Umm Rumman in the southwest.”
“A farm on the road connecting the villages of Khazma and Malih was also targeted,” the report said. “It had reportedly been used to store narcotic substances.” The strikes targeted the Druze-majority area of Sweida, it added.
“In a statement on Thursday, the Sweida ‘National Guard’ – the Druze militia that dominates the province – said the Jordanian army had only targeted smuggling facilities, without attacking any ‘National Guard’ site,” The New Arab reported.
As such, the statement is intended to make it appear that the Jordanians had not targeted the Druze.
Al-Ghad reported: “The strikes in As-Suwayda are different for multiple reasons. While official Jordanian statements openly cited the presence of drug and weapons factories and centers, the deeper objective is more implicit, hinting at the possibility of repeated strikes and potential expansion to other time frames.”
“Northern Jordan faces threats from drug and weapons traffickers, as well as separatist projects aimed at creating mini-states, which could open the door to broader risks within Syria and Jordan,” the report said.
This appears to be directed at Jerusalem’s backing the Druze. The Jordanians don’t want to see chaos in southern Syria. It appears that Amman is deeply frustrated with Israel’s policy of demanding demilitarization.
“Israeli actions contribute to creating risks exported to Jordan under separatist pretexts, while their real aim is destabilizing northern Jordan in preparation for a future stage,” Al-Ghad reported.
Jordan’s air force is now doing what Damascus cannot do. Israel may feel it can strike Damascus, but it won’t carry out strikes on Jordan, and Amman is likely coordinating with the US, Syria, and possibly Iraq, Turkey, and other countries.
Jordan likely coordinates with Israel as well. Israel’s policies of demanding demilitarization will not be allowed to threaten Jordan, however, and Amman is making this clear.
“Jordan’s strikes are officially justified as targeting drugs, weapons, and infiltration,” Al-Ghad reported. “Yet, there are certainly secondary targets previously alluded to. Jordan maintains intelligence networks in southern Syria, some established during the Syrian chaos or after the regime’s fall, providing sensitive information about everything in the region.”
Jordan is watching developments closely.