Drone carrying explosives from Syria shot down over Jordan
Arab countries seek to strengthen security cooperation with Syria, which has transformed itself into a narco-state
A drone carrying explosives from Syria was shot down on Wednesday by the army in Jordan, a country that has been fighting cross-border drug and arms trafficking for years.
According to an army statement, "border guards (...) detected a drone attempting to illegally cross the border from Syrian territory, and (the aircraft) was shot down in Jordanian territory."
"The aircraft was carrying TNT-type explosives," the statement said, without giving further details.
The Jordanian army regularly announces operations against arms and drug trafficking, particularly captagon (fenethylline, similar to amphetamine), on the Syrian border, where the fight against the scourge has intensified in recent years.
Last year, Jordan reported that drug trafficking had become "more organized" across the Syrian-Jordanian border, with the protection of armed groups equipped in particular with drones, prompting the country to resort to the air force for its operations.
On Sunday, the army announced that it had shot down a drone loaded with crystal meth, a synthetic drug, from Syria, a country at war since 2011, months after shooting down a drone with a similar load.
In two different instances earlier this year, the army announced that it had intercepted several attempts to smuggle weapons and drugs in drones from Syria.
On July 3, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Jordanian Head of Diplomacy Ayman Safadi stressed the need for cooperation to tackle drug smuggling across their borders.