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Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said in Damascus on Monday that his country wants to see the border with Syria free from drug smuggling.
The Jordanian official was in the Syrian capital to meet Syria's de facto leader Ahmad Al Shara. He is the highest-ranking Arab official to visit the neighbouring country since the overthrow of the former regime two weeks ago.
The cross-border flow of drugs has been a prominent national security threat in the Middle East. Captagon worth billions of dollars has crossed from Syria into other Arab countries through Jordan every year since 2018. In 2021, the Syrian regime is estimated to have made more than $5 billion from the sale of Captagon.
But Syria's production of the drug has all but come to a halt since the ousting of Bashar Al Assad's regime, a Jordanian and a European official told The National. “We want that border to be stable, freed from terrorist organisations, free from drug smuggling, weapons smuggling,” Mr Safadi said in Damascus. “The challenge remains as the attempts to smuggle continue,” he added.
Cartels linked to the Fourth Armoured Division of the Syrian army and Iranian-backed auxiliaries have enabled its spread. It was a major source of income for the ruling elite in Damascus, and for Hezbollah and other non-state supporters of the regime, according to regional security officials.
The flow of drugs was one of the main reasons Arab countries ended hostilities with Bashar Al Assad three years ago and normalised ties with his government, seeking co-operation in combating the smuggling operation.
Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, which led the rebel advance that deposed Mr Al Assad, has established military control over the main border crossings with Jordan and Lebanon as it consolidates control in Syria. On the issue of the Israeli invasion of Syria, the Jordanian official said Israel's actions were an "encroachment of Syrian sovereignty", and that it "should withdraw" from recently occupied Syrian territories.