Intelligence sources reported on Monday that Jordan launched several air strikes inside Syria against the hideouts of Iranian-backed smugglers in response to a large smuggling operation. The Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) confirmed the continued clashes on Jordan’s northern border, as armed groups were infiltrating from Syria.
News12 military correspondent Ehud Yaari suggested on Monday night that the smuggled weapons were intended for Judea and Samaria.
The JAF on Monday issued a press statement saying, “The clash between the Jordanian border guard forces and the armed groups continued since Monday at dawn, during which they were able to arrest 9 smugglers who were with the armed groups.”
The statement listed the confiscated weapons: 4 Rocket Launcher missiles, 4 RPG missiles, 4 anti-personnel mines, 10 type G3 sniper rifles, and an M16 rifle equipped with a sniper scope.
The JAF also reported the destruction of a car loaded with explosive materials, in addition to the seizure of very large quantities of narcotic substances, which are being identified and transferred to the relevant authorities.
the Jordan News Agency, Petra, “intense” armed clashes broke out early Monday between the border guards and infiltrating armed groups along the Kingdom’s northern borders with Syria. The army successfully foiled a major smuggling attempt and seized large amounts of narcotics, automatic weapons, and missiles.
Of course, that description of “intense” combat makes it sound like they were armed with far more than that short list of weapons mentioned above.
The JAF also said that 12,858 palm-sized sheets of hashish, 4.7 million Captagon pills, and 2.6 kilograms of crystal meth were seized in Monday’s operation.
A JAF official said the smugglers had been driven back into Syria, noting that several Jordanian border guards sustained minor to moderate injuries.
Asharq Al-Awsat cited informed sources who stressed that the JAF used “the required force” to “repel terrorist gangs that are still trying to cross the border,” and “local groups have been detected cooperating with weapons and drug militias.” At the same time, Jordanian security services identified the locations of the groups that opened fire on border guards from inside Jordan.
The sources did not rule out new confrontations between the JAF and the smuggling gangs, and stressed that “all types of military force are ready for use in the ongoing confrontations, at a time when the gangs are using the smuggled weapons in their possession to respond to Jordanian shooting.”
