The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

A day after SOHR report of clashes between smugglers and Jordanian army in south Syria | Jordanian army announces death of 27 smugglers

Jordanian army issued a statement this morning, announcing the death of 27 smugglers and injury of others who escaped into Syria, while they were attempting to smuggle large amounts of narcotics form Syria to Jordan. According to the statement, forces of the eastern military zone launched simultaneous operations in several areas at Thursday dawn, after coordination with security services. The forces participating in the campaign managed to abort an attempt to smuggle large amounts of narcotics from Syria to Jordan.

 

This development comes a day after SOHR report of violent night clashes between drug smugglers and the Jordanian army on the Syria-Jordan border.

 

Yesterday, SOHR sources reported that clashes erupted at midnight on Tuesday between Jordanian border guards and some smugglers as they attempted to smuggle narcotics from the southern countryside of Al-Suwaydaa near the villages of Khirbet Awad and Al-Mughayir.

 

According to local sources in that area, these clashes occurred despite warnings by the Jordanian government to change their policy and the rules of engagement on the border areas to counter infiltration and smuggling attempts, after a Jordanian officers was killed and three soldiers were wounded in a clashes with smugglers on Syria-Jordan border in mid-January. One of these soldiers also died later affected by his wounds.

 

On January 16, SOHR activists reported that villages and areas in the southern countryside of Al-Suwaidaa province at Syria-Jordan border witnessed renewed clashes due to the dramatic increase in drug smuggling to Jordan from Al-Suwaidaa, where drug smugglers were taking advantage of foggy weather to smuggle drugs into Syria that were smuggled by Lebanon’s Hezbollah into other countries around the world with the participation and support of officers of the regime’s army.

 

While on January 15, SOHR activists reported that violent clashes between Jordanian army border guards and smugglers erupted at the Syria-Jordan border in the southern countryside of Al-Suwidaa and lasted for several hours after the Jordanian army monitored seeing a group of smugglers trying to sneak to Jordan carrying a large cache of drugs. A Jordanian army officer was killed, and three army personnel injured, Jordanian authorities announced.

 

The Syrian Observatory has repeatedly warned that Al-Suwaidaa province in southern Syria has become a major hotbed for dealing in and exporting drugs by Hezbollah to Jordan.

 

We, at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, have been all along warned against the disastrous situation in Syria with the Syrian regime adhering only to power, disregarding the sufferings of the Syrian people. The Syrian Observatory would like to point out to the threats posed by the prevalence of drugs across the entire Syrian geography, particularly regime-held areas. We also renew our appeal to the international community not to abandon their responsibility and obligations to finding a lasting solution to the tragedy of millions of Syrians.