Syrian And Jordanian Officials Meet Over Drug War Along Border

The Syrian-made cheap amphetamine Captagon, a highly addictive nerve drug that works by stimulating the central nervous system, is the main bulk of the trafficked drug to Jordan.
The Syrian-made cheap amphetamine Captagon, a highly addictive nerve drug that works by stimulating the central nervous system, is the main bulk of the trafficked drug to Jordan.

Army and security chiefs from Jordan and Syria met Sunday to curb a growing drug trade along their mutual border with deadly skirmishes, blamed on pro-Iranian militias who hold sway in southern Syria.

The meeting comes after Syria's neighbors got a pledge from Damascus in May to cooperate with their efforts to rein in Syria's flourishing drug trade in exchange for helping end its pariah status after a brutal the civil war.

"The meeting discussed cooperation in confronting the drug danger and its sources of production and smuggling and the parties that organize and execute smuggling operations across the border," the Jordanian foreign ministry said.

Syria is accused by Arab governments and the West of producing the highly-addictive and lucrative amphetamine captagon and organizing its smuggling into the Gulf, with Jordan a main transit route.

The kingdom is concerned about lawlessness in the strategic southern region where it echoes Washington's accusations that pro-Iranian militias protected by units with the Syrian army run the multi-billion dollar smuggling networks.

The West blamed Syria's government for the production and export of the drug, naming Maher al-Assad, the head of the army's elite Fourth Division and the president's brother, as a key figure.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government denies involvement, or complicity by Iranian-backed. Iran says the allegations are part of Western plots against the country.

Jordan, impatient with what it says are broken promises to curb the drug war, made a rare strike in May inside Syrian territory where an Iran-linked drugs factory was demolished.

In the last few weeks, Jordan's army downed two Iranian operated drones coming from Syria with one the army said carried weapons.

Jordan requested more US military aid to bolster security on the border.