The Jordanian-Syrian border -

an ongoing war between the border guards of the Jordanian Armed Forces, the Arab Army, and drug smuggling networks from the Syrian side, which has led to the killing of 30 smugglers since the beginning of the year, and the death of a member of the border guard.

But the most dangerous - according to the Jordanian army - is the presence of militias accompanying the smugglers, providing them with crossing operations into the territory of the Kingdom, carrying with them equipment and weapons between light and medium, and moving in high-risk vehicles and vehicles, equipped for this purpose.

And the matter does not stop at that - and the talk of the Jordanian army - but these militias use drones to monitor the movements of military salaries, and they carry out fake infiltration operations for the purposes of camouflage and distracting the attention of the border guards, while at the same time real smuggling operations are being carried out elsewhere on the border.

The Jordanian army's statements came during a tour organized by the Military Information Directorate of the Armed Forces to local, Arab and international media, which included the seam areas on the Jordanian-Syrian border in the eastern regions.

Along the border road, the border guards spend their day basking in the heat of the sun and the winter rains. Hands on the trigger and the eye of anticipation of the northern and eastern deserts and valleys, they do not allow a car or smuggler to approach the border areas, they open fire on infiltrators without mercy.

Drones used by the Jordanian army to detect smugglers (Al-Jazeera)

The nature of the threat has changed

At the beginning of the tour, the Director of Military Information, Colonel Mustafa Al-Hiyari, said that Jordan "is waging a war with drugs and their smugglers on behalf of the countries of the region and the neighborhood as a whole. Drugs do not know a specific region, and threaten the societal security of the entire world."

As for the reasons for changing the rules of engagement, they came to “change the nature of the threat” - and talk to Al-Hiyari - after “we were facing extremist terrorist groups such as the Islamic State and others that were seeking revenge and destruction, today we are facing smugglers supported by armed groups.”

As for the results of changing the rules of engagement on the ground, the result - according to Al-Hiyari - was heavy on the smugglers after the killing of 30 smugglers, the seizure of 17,000 hashish and 16 million drug pills, in addition to "targeting any element that enters the forbidden areas between the two countries, so he will be killed."

Director of Military Information, Colonel Mustafa Al-Hiyari, speaking during the tour (Al-Jazeera)

Change smuggling zones

In addition, smugglers began looking for other areas to smuggle - and talk to al-Hayari - in the past, the border areas used by smugglers were defined and known, but after changing the rules of engagement, they are now looking for new areas to use for smuggling.

Regarding the nationalities of the dead smugglers, whether they were Syrians only, or if there were other Arab or Iranian nationalities, Al-Hiyari said, “The majority of the dead who are caught in no-man’s land or within the Kingdom’s territory are Syrians, and coordination is done with the Syrian side to receive them,” refusing to talk about the presence of “smugglers of nationalities.” other".

He stressed the existence of problems on the Syrian side in controlling the border areas, and that smugglers are taking advantage of the weather conditions in the fog and dust to carry out their infiltration operations, with the aim of flooding the market with drugs and transporting quantities to neighboring Arab countries.

In a question to Al Jazeera Net about smuggling operations from the Rukban desert camp area, Al-Hiyari said that "it is still hot as a result of the presence of refugees, and there is an increase in smuggling from that area."

In another question about arms smuggling in addition to drugs, Al-Hiyari said, "Weapon smuggling operations have been seized in several areas along the border, including light and medium weapons, some of which are used by smugglers to attack our border guards' military ranks."

Syrian villages adjacent to the Jordanian border (Al-Jazeera)

Drones and equipped mechanisms

During a press conference held on the sidelines of the tour, Colonel Zaid Al-Dabbas of the General Command of the Armed Forces said, "Our salaries are fighting a war with smugglers of narcotic substances, supported by armed groups that accompany the smugglers to secure their crossings into the territory of the Kingdom, carrying with them a variety of weapons, including machine guns and RPGs." in vehicles equipped for this purpose.

These armed groups - and Al-Dabbas spoke - "monitor and monitor the movements of military salaries on the border areas, through their use of drones, but the military forces in the border guards were able to control and bring them down."

In response to a question by Al Jazeera Net about the clash with military forces from the Fourth Division and Shiite militias, Al-Dabbas said, "On the Syrian side, there are many groups and militias, and we know the real reality and who we are facing, and the Syrian side has provided us with all the details."

Al-Dabbas added, "We were able to find out where these drugs are manufactured, how they are transported to the border areas, and where they are stored, and some of them were transported through drones to be dropped inside the territory of the Kingdom, but those quantities were seized."

joint committees

The Jordanian Armed Forces are coordinating with the Syrian army through special channels and committees that were formed for this purpose - according to Al-Dabbas - and there are "first-hand contacts and the Syrian side is provided with all the details about the smugglers and the armed groups accompanying them."

"We have detected 160 drug smuggling networks in the southern regions of the Syrian border, and the number of these networks has increased until the number of some of them has reached 200 people, after it consisted of 8-10 people previously," he added.

Border guard vehicles roaming along the dividing line between Jordan and Syria (Al-Jazeera)

 Al-Daham

Colonel Yousef Al-Daham of the Eastern Military Region Command of the Arab Army, said during the tour that the salaries of the border guards managed to thwart all smuggling operations since the beginning of this year, and seized large quantities of drugs.

On the readiness of the border guards in the eastern military region, Al-Daham said that his forces are equipped with the highest technology, equipped with fast-moving mechanisms, armored units and artillery units, and are backed by elected forces of special forces, and rapid reaction forces, backed by aircraft from the Royal Air Force.