Jordanian Army Shot Down Drone Carrying Weapons Over Border With Syria
On June 16, the Jordanian military announced that it had shot down a drone carrying weapon parts from Syria over its side of the border.
A statement reported by state news agency Petra said that troops from the Eastern Military Region downed the drone that had crossed illegally into the kingdom’s territory. The confiscated weapons parts were transferred to the concerned authorities, said the statement.
This was the second time in a week when the Jordanian army downed a drone over the border with Syria. On June 13, a drone carrying drugs was shot down. Army officials said that the drone’s payload consisted of 500 grams of crystal meth, a potent amphetamine.
Traffickers in southern Syria have been using commercially-available drones to smuggle drugs and weapons into Jordan for a few years.
Jordan has been growing frustrated with the activists of Syrian traffickers. The situation on the Jordanian-Syrian border was one of the main issues the Syrian foreign minister discussed with its counterpart from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq during a meeting that was held in Amman on May 1, just a few days before Damascus was readmitted to the Arab League. An understanding to combat traffickers was reportedly reached.
On May 8, a series of strikes destroyed an abandoned drug factory in the southeastern Syrian governorate of Daraa and killed a prominent trafficker in the neighboring governorate of al-Suwayda. Back then, Reuters reported that the strikes were carried out by Jordan.
It’s worth noting that Jordan blames Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iranian-backed forces in Syria for smuggling operations on its border.
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