Jordan launches airstrikes on suspected drug networks along Syrian border

Alsharq Tribune-Ahmed Essam 

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.

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.

Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported multiple strikes in border areas and observed intensive aircraft activity.

In a statement, the Jordanian Armed Forces confirmed it has "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.

Jordan has intensified military operations along its northern border in recent years, many of which through drones, citing growing threats from drug and weapons trafficking networks.