AMMAN: A new forum to combat drug smuggling from war-ravaged Syria through Jordan to the wealthy Gulf states held its first meeting in Amman on Sunday, the Jordanian foreign ministry said.
The forum was agreed during talks between Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus earlier this month as regional concern mounts over an influx of the banned stimulant captagon from Syria.
The Syrian delegation was headed by Defense Minister General Ali Mahmud Abbas and General Intelligence Director, Major General Husam Louka. Jordan’s was led by the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, Major General Yousef Huneiti, and General Intelligence director, Major General Ahmed Husni, the Jordanian ministry said.
The talks “went over the issue of the parties that organize, run and carry out smuggling operations across borders to Jordan, as well as necessary measures to... confront this escalating danger to the entire region,” the ministry said.
Jordanian security forces have tightened border controls in recent years and occasionally announce thwarted drugs and weapons smuggling attempts from Syria.
There has been increasing regional engagement with Assad’s government since its readmission to the Arab League in May, ending more than a decade of isolation since civil war erupted in Syria in 2011.
New forum aims to tackle Syria-Jordan drug smuggling
https://arab.news/9szgn
New forum aims to tackle Syria-Jordan drug smuggling
- Increasing regional engagement with Assad’s govt since its readmission to the Arab League
1,965 Israeli violations recorded against Palestinians in February
- Head of Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission condemns attacks as a continuation of ‘terror’ against Palestinians
- Violations included assaults, uprooting trees, burning fields and preventing olive pickers from accessing their lands
LONDON: Israeli forces and settlers carried out 1,965 attacks across Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank in February, according to a report by the Palestinian Authority.
Muayyad Shaaban, head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, condemned the attacks as a continuation of the “terror” against the Palestinian people, their land and property.
The commission documented 1,454 attacks by Israeli forces and 511 by settlers, most of which were concentrated in the governorates of Hebron with 421 attacks, followed by Nablus with 340, Ramallah and Al-Bireh with 320, and East Jerusalem with 210 attacks.
Violations have included direct beatings of Palestinians, uprooting trees, burning fields, and preventing olive pickers from accessing their lands.
Israeli forces have seized land and demolished homes and agricultural facilities under the pretext of “security,” which has enabled settlers to expand their settlements, according to Wafa news agency.
Shaaban said: “What is taking place represents an organized methodology aimed at emptying the land of its owners and imposing an integrated racist colonial system.”
Israeli settlers have poisoned and uprooted a total of 1,314 trees, including 1,054 olive trees, in the areas of Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus and Tulkarm. The olive groves have been a lifeline for Palestinians in the West Bank, with an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 families relying on the olive harvest for their livelihoods, according to the UN Human Rights Council.
In February, Israeli forces demolished 122 structures belonging to Palestinians, including 56 inhabited homes, nine uninhabited homes, 34 agricultural facilities and 18 sources of livelihood. More than one-third of these demolitions took place in Jerusalem, totaling 46 structures.
