Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi's threat to carry out military action inside Syria to prevent drug trafficking, which he considered a "serious threat", sparked widespread controversy on social media, especially as it coincided with an Arab decision to return Syria to its seat in the Arab League.
In remarks to CNN, Safadi said, "We do not treat the threat of drug trafficking lightly, if we do not see effective measures to reduce this threat, we will do what is necessary to confront it, including military action inside Syria to eliminate this very serious threat."
Recently, the Jordanian authorities' efforts to control their borders with Syria have increased, thwarting attempts to smuggle narcotics, especially Captagon pills, into the territory of the Kingdom and the Gulf countries, where dozens of seizures of large quantities of Captagon pills coming from Syria were announced.
In this context, the director of Jordanian military information, Mustafa Al-Hiyari, described in a television interview what is happening on the border with Syria as a war carried out by the armed forces on the northern and eastern borders, during recent years, starting in 2020, to confront attempts to infiltrate and smuggle drugs into the country.
Shabaat program (2023/5/7) monitored the wave of controversy sparked by Safadi's statements on Syrian and Jordanian social media platforms, which coincided with the adoption by Arab foreign ministers of the decision to return Syria to its seat in the Arab League, after more than 10 years of suspension of its membership.
Non-repairable
Sami said in his tweet that "the Syrian regime is irreparable," and wrote, "It was clear from the first day of restoring relations that Jordan seemed to suffer from security from drugs and others, and that they would not abide by any security agreement."
While Saeed asked, "Why don't we stop the drug disposal inside our territory and therefore Syria will not find a market for it in Jordan?" Ahmed invoked the proverb "The evil of the scourge is what laughs," and followed it with a question: "If that is the case, why did you all run towards Damascus?"
Muhannad also called for not treating Jordan's threats lightly, adding, "It is a country historically known for its sober politics and does not make statements about absurdity."
The British embassy in Beirut estimated the revenues of the drug trade on the Syrian regime at $ 57 billion. It says it represents a lifeline for Bashar al-Assad's regime, almost 3 times the combined value of the Mexican drug cartel trade.
It is noteworthy that the file of drug smuggling from Syria is one of the most important files that were raised in the quadripartite meeting that brought together the foreign ministers of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt with the Syrian foreign minister in Amman last week.