2024-01-23 13:50:03
The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs considered, on Tuesday, that there was “no justification” for strikes launched from time to time by Jordanian aircraft in southern Syria as part of its fight once morest drug smuggling operations.
This is the first time that Damascus has condemned Jordanian air strikes on its territory.
Jordanian aircraft launched several raids inside Syrian territory, generally near the Jordanian border, mainly targeting drug smuggling and trade operations, which Amman has repeatedly announced its intention to confront and cooperate with Damascus to confront.
The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “Syria stresses that there is no justification for such military operations inside Syrian territory,” noting that it is “trying to contain them out of concern not for tension or impact on the continued restoration of the brotherly relationship between the two countries.”
At least 9 people, including two girls and four women, were killed on January 18, in air strikes likely to be Jordanian in the southern Suwayda Governorate, according to what the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at the time, while there was no comment from Jordan.
The Foreign Ministry added: “Syria expresses deep regret as a result of the air strikes directed by the Jordanian Air Force on several villages and areas inside Syrian territory,” the latest of which was the raids on Suwayda, in which “a number of civilians, including children and women, were killed.”
Jordan rarely announces air strikes in Syria, but it confirms that it has been active for years in thwarting weapons and drug smuggling operations coming from Syria, especially following it turned into a drug smuggling route.
The two countries agreed to cooperate in combating drug trafficking and to form a joint committee to confront this threat.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry considered that the recent escalation “is not at all consistent with what was agreed upon between the joint committees from both sides,” stressing that Syria has expressed its readiness “to cooperate with the Jordanian civil and security institutions, but those messages were ignored and we did not receive a response to them, nor did we receive any response from the side.” “Jordanian.”
Combating drug trafficking is one of the main issues that the Arab countries agreed on with regard to Syria following returning it to the Arab League last year following more than a decade of diplomatic isolation.
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