At least 10 civilians suspected of Jordan air raids in Syria

#News #Drugs #InternationalTrade #Politics #airstrike #jordan #syria #syrian #movies The attack marks the latest effort to disrupt drug smuggling into Jordan, but residents warn of civilian casualties. An estimated 10 civilians were killed in airstrikes targeting the neighboring towns of Arman and Malh in Syria's southeastern Sweida province, according to local media reports. Jordanian forces are believed to be behind Thursday's attacks, but the government has yet to confirm any involvement. Sweida 24, a news platform headquartered in the same city, said warplanes carried out simultaneous attacks on residential neighborhoods after midnight local time . Material damage occurred some houses in the attack Malh. However, in the second attack in Arman, two houses were destroyed and at least 10 civilians were killed, including four women and two girls, both under the age of five. Jordan is thought to have previously carried out raids in Syria, mostly near the two countries' common border, in order to disrupt arms smuggling and drug smuggling operations. But residents of the towns hit on Thursday questioned the choice of targets. "What happened was a of children and women," Arman resident Murad al-Abdullah told Al Jazeera. "Air strikes targeting villages are far from being defined as the fight against drug traffickers." Al Abdullah said the ing was not limited to the homes of people suspected of involvement in drug trafficking. He noted that other houses were also damaged, villagers were terrorized while they slept, causing unnecessary civilian deaths. "It is unreasonable for two girls under the age of five to be involved in drug trafficking," Abdullah said. Tribes and residents of villages near the Jordanian border issued separate statements this week denying any involvement in drug trafficking. The statements also promised to assist Jordan in eliminating criminal networks smuggling drugs and other drugs across the border. In return, they asked Jordan to suspend its ings of civilian areas. Sheikh Hekmat al-Hajri, the spiritual leader of the Druze religious group in Syria, called on Jordan to prevent further civilian bloodshed. "Attacks should be mainly directed at smugglers and their supporters," Al-Hajri said in a press statement. Arman resident Al Abdullah also called on Jordan to cooperate with Syrian locals to stop smuggling operations. "We are a society that does not accept drug production or trade, and the Jordanian government should have communicated with our elders to cooperate in the fight against drug traffickers, instead of ing settlements," Al-Abdullah said. Suspicious attacks targeting drug trafficking operations Thursday's attack is believed to be the third airstrike by Jordanian aircraft into Syrian territory this year. According to London-based human rights monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an attack previously occurred on January 9 in the Sweida countryside, resulting in death of three people. The Observatory said five smugglers were also killed in the border attack on January 7. Fighting that day occasionally lasted more than 10 hours. At the end of the raid, Jordanian forces arrested 15 suspects. They also claimed to have seized 627,000 Captagon pills, an illegally produced amphetamine, and 3.4kg of marijuana. "What Jordan has done can certainly delay drug smuggling operations, but unfortunately it cannot stop them completely. Lawyer and human rights activist Essam al-Zoubi said "The Syrian border is 375 km long and smuggling operations are carried out by random individuals carrying bags of drugs to cross the border." "It is carried out by professional groups, not by the government," he said. Anti-drug officials in the United States and other Western countries said war-torn Syria has become a major center for drug trafficking in the Middle East. For example, the country has become the primary producer of Captagon, a multibillion-dollar business. Smugglers are using Jordan as a route for Syrian drugs to reach oil-rich Gulf countries, experts said. Al-Zoubi and other human rights advocates have warned that the Syrian government itself is involved in the drug trade to shore up its war-depleted finances. Reports have indicated that Syrian Army's Fourth Armored Division plays a role in overseeing country's drug operations, along with Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, an ally of Syrian government. "The authorities responsible for drug trafficking in Syria are Lebanese Hezbollah, Fourth Division and security apparatus of Syrian regime that controls southern Syria," Al-Zoubi said. Jordan and its allies have also taken other approaches to curbing the drug trade. For example, in March last year, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on six individuals, including two relatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, for their role in the production and smuggling of Captagon. Some of those