By Samah Abdul Fattah | 2024-02-19

Faced with Syria's unwillingness or inability to curb cross-border smuggling, Jordan has increased its own efforts to prevent weapons and illicit drugs from entering the kingdom and other countries of the region.

Much of Syria's southern border region is under the control of militias affiliated with Iran and Russia, as well as with some powerful Syrian players, experts say.

Because of its fundamental weakness, the Syrian regime is not capable of taking any action to stop these smuggling operations, they told Al-Fassel -- even if it is theoretically willing to do so.

"Jordan declared an open war on smugglers in the border area with Syria, after changing the rules of engagement that had been in place for years," Jordanian political researcher Raed Khalil told Al-Fassel.

In the past, he explained, smuggling operations were addressed with the logic of deterrence -- the threat of the consequences of these actions.

Jordan refrained from excessive force when apprehending smugglers, and the matter was handled exclusively by Border Guard forces, he said.

But now the General Command of the Armed Forces and the Public Security Directorate also have been authorized to intervene in these situations.

There has been a spike in smuggling attempts, which are becoming more highly organized and are backed by large groups of armed men who have engaged in direct armed clashes with Jordanian forces, Khalil said.

"This is unusual for ordinary smugglers," he noted.

Syrian regime's failure

Smuggling operations are taking place along almost the entire length of the 378km Jordan-Syria border, said Khalil.

In the past, limited smuggling operations were attempted via some crossing points, he said.

"But at the present time, the multiplicity of loyalties in Syria and proliferation of militias affiliated with Syrian, Iranian and Russian parties have led to the proliferation of these operations and their growth to this level," Khalil added.

Items seized from smugglers include machine guns, automatic weapons, missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, which smugglers have been using extensively of late, he said.

Many smugglers are transporting illegal drugs such as hashish and Captagon, he said, noting that some of the smuggled materials are destined for sale in Jordan and others in the Gulf states.

As part of a new modus operandi, cross-border smugglers have been using "dead drops," he said -- secret locations where they "bury the smuggled materials underground so they can be retrieved at a later time."

While Jordan has been upholding the decisions of the joint committee with Syria, which agreed to work to curb cross-border smuggling, Syrian regime forces have not taken any effective step in this regard, Khalil said.

"This prompted Jordan to act unilaterally and deliver heavy blows to smugglers at the borders," he said.

The kingdom has compiled "wanted lists" of known smugglers identified via intelligence from Syrians who object to these illicit activities and from information obtained from smugglers after their arrest, he said.

Smuggling from southern Syria

The illicit drugs and weapons smuggled into Jordan come from most regions of Syria, but the majority come from the south, specifically Daraa and Sweida provinces, Sweida activist Nizar Bou Ali told Al-Fassel.

In these areas, he said, militias affiliated with Iran have recruited "dozens or even hundreds" of youth to work in the manufacture of drugs and the smuggling of drugs and weapons into Jordan.

Recruiters have done this "by exploiting the living conditions in these areas, the lack of job opportunities and the horrifying proliferation of unemployment," he said.

In recent years, southern Syria has become inundated with drugs, and local youth have been plunged into a spiral of addiction, Bou Ali said.

Preying on their addiction and dependency, unscrupulous groups and individuals forced them to agree to work in the manufacture and smuggling of drugs and weapons, he explained.

For their part, Syrian regime forces are not taking any measure that would stop the spread of illicit drugs or drug smuggling, Bou Ali said.

This is because the majority of manufacturers and smugglers are directly affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), while others are affiliated with Russia or influential Syrians, he said.

"The Syrian army has no control over the region at all, which unfortunately portends that these conditions will continue for a long time," Bou Ali said.

"It is without a doubt detrimental to the relations between the people of southern Syria and Jordan, which are historical relations that were more than excellent in the past," he added.

IRGC supervises drug production

One of the key conditions Arab countries set, when they were considering Syria's return to the fold after more than a decade, was its commitment to stopping the smuggling of weapons and drugs, said political researcher Abdul Nabi Bakkar.

The cross-border smuggling from Syria posed a direct and escalating threat to many of these countries, especially Jordan and the Gulf states, he told Al-Fassel.

The Syrian regime's continued neglect of this issue and failure to take any deterrent measures may undermine these efforts, he added, even though some countries have taken serious steps already to restore relations with Damascus.

Bakkar said the Syrian regime does not want to admit that it is unable to take any action on this issue because it is directly connected to the IRGC.

Drug manufacturing in Syria and the region is directly supervised by the IRGC's affiliates in Syria and Lebanon, he said, as is weapon smuggling.

"There is no doubt that the issues related to the IRGC are red lines for the Syrian government, regarding which it cannot and will not be able to take any decisive measures," he said.

"This is despite the fact that many countries, including Syria itself, have been hard hit by the proliferation of drugs and their devastating effect on the youth."