Jordan carries out strikes on drug, weapons storage in southern Syria

Syrian state TV reports Jordanian strikes on a drugs and weapons storage in the southern Druze-majority province of Sweida, of which many parts are outside the control of Damascus.

State television quotes local sources saying the Jordanian army “likely… targeted a headquarters containing weapons and drugs controlled by rebel groups in the village of Shahba in Sweida.”

Separately, the Jordanian army says it “carried out a Jordanian deterrent operation targeting several locations used by arms and drug traffickers along the Kingdom’s northern border.”

The military adds that it will “continue to deal proactively, decisively, and deterrently with any threat to the security and sovereignty of the Kingdom, and will dedicate their capabilities and resources to confronting it with full force and determination.”

Local sources tell an AFP correspondent that a series of airstrikes targeted at least five locations, including warehouses in the Syrian town of Arman.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor says one of the strikes hit near a local security forces branch.

During Syria’s protracted civil war before the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, the drug captagon became the country’s largest export, its trade serving as a key funding source for the ousted president’s government.

The synthetic drug has flooded the region, with neighbouring countries occasionally announcing seizures and asking Lebanon and Syria to ramp up efforts to combat the trade.

Jordan has previously carried out strikes on southern Syria to target drug-trafficking networks.

Ever since the new Islamist authorities took over in Syria after Assad’s ouster, Damascus and Amman have committed to fighting drug smuggling on their border.

Parts of the Sweida province, which borders Jordan, are controlled by Druze armed groups and escape the control of Damascus, including Sweida city.

They include the areas targeted by Saturday’s Jordanian strikes, according to the AFP correspondent.