Syria and Jordan will fight the rise of Islamic State and the smuggling of weapons and narcotics

The Jordanian foreign minister said on Tuesday that the two countries have decided to establish a cooperative security committee to guard their border, stop the smuggling of weapons and drugs, and try to stop the return of Islamic State fighters.

The addictive, amphetamine-like stimulant known as captagon has been mass-produced in Syria for years, according to Western anti-drug experts, and Jordan serves as a transit country to the Gulf states that produce oil.

Since 2023, Jordan’s army has carried out a number of preemptive airstrikes in Syria, targeting groups suspected of having ties to the drug trafficking and their installations, according to Jordanian officials.

We talked about border security, particularly the threat posed by the emergence of Islamic State and the smuggling of weapons and narcotics. At a joint news conference with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi stated, “Our security is one, and we will coordinate together to combat these mutual challenges.”

Shibani told Safadi that drug smuggling will not be a concern to Jordan under the new Islamist government in Syria. Shibani was in Amman after traveling to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates after President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown on Dec. 8.

“The new situation in Syria ended the threats posed to Jordan’s security,” Shibani stated. “We guarantee that captagon and drug smuggling are over and won’t happen again. We are prepared to work closely together on this.

Shibani responded to a question concerning U.S. sanctions on Syria by saying that Washington’s recent decision to loosen limitations on humanitarian supplies for the country should be a first step toward the complete relaxation of the sanctions, which were put in place to isolate the Assad regime for its brutal crackdowns on its opponents.

He went on to say that the current sanctions were a significant barrier to Syria’s rehabilitation from the catastrophic civil war that had raged for 13 years.

According to Safadi, Jordan is prepared to deliver power to Syria immediately after the overthrow of Assad and is also planning to supply gas.