AMMAN: Jordanian jets conducted four strikes inside Syria on Tuesday in the second such raid within a week against suspected farms and hideouts of Iran-linked drug smugglers, regional intelligence sources said.
Jordan’s army has stepped up a campaign against drug dealers after clashes last month with dozens of people suspected of links to pro-Iranian militias, who were carrying large hauls over its border with Syria along with weapons and explosives.
Jordan and its Western allies have blamed Lebanon-based, Iran-backed Hezbollah and other pro-Iranian militia who control much of southern Syria as being behind the surge in smuggling.
Iran and Hezbollah have dismissed the allegations as a Western plot against Syria, which itself denies complicity with Iran-backed militia which opponents link to its security forces.
The sources confirmed reports by Syrian newsportal Suwayda 24 that three strikes targeted leading drug dealers in the towns of Shaab and Arman in Sweida province near the Jordan-Syria border. The fourth strike hit a farm near the village of Malah.
Last Thursday, Jordan hit similar locations in Sweida, where officials suspect much of the cross-border smuggling operations take place.
“The Jordanians appear to be targeting farms suspected of storing drugs before they are smuggled across the border, as well as the main homes and hideouts of known drug dealers,” said civic activist and researcher Ryan Marouf.
“The latest strikes indicate an escalation by Jordan of its war against drug dealers,” said Marouf, who is also editor of Suwayda 24.
There were unconfirmed reports of three people dead, including a leading local drug dealer, Suwayda 24 said, citing local sources.
Jordan has been promised US military aid to improve security, with the United States having already given around $1 billion to establish border posts since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, Jordanian officials have said.
UN experts and US and European officials said the illicit drug trade finances pro-Iranian militia and pro-government paramilitary forces in Syria that have emerged during more than a decade of conflict.
The war-torn Middle Eastern country has become the region’s main site for a multi-billion-dollar drug trade, with Jordan being a key transit route to oil-rich Gulf states for a Syrian-made amphetamine known as captagon, the US and Western anti-narcotics officials have said.
Jordanian jets strike Iran-linked drug dealers inside Syria — intelligence sources
https://arab.news/yxhus
Jordanian jets strike Iran-linked drug dealers inside Syria — intelligence sources
- The war-torn Middle Eastern country has become the region’s main site for a multi-billion-dollar drug trade
Israeli police raid Christmas party in Haifa, arrest Palestinian man dressed as Santa
- ‘Excessive force’ used in raid, says rights group for Palestinian citizens of Israel
- Gaza marks first post-ceasefire Christmas as occupied West Bank faces holiday crackdown
LONDON: Police in Israel last week arrested a Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus at a Christmas celebration in Haifa, The Guardian reported.
The Christmas event was closed on Sunday, after Israeli officers stormed the area and confiscated equipment, the Mossawa Center, a rights group for Palestinian citizens of Israel, said.
The Palestinian Santa Claus performer was arrested, as well as a DJ and street vendor.
In a video circulating on social media, police can be seen forcing the men to the ground and handcuffing them, as crowds of bystanders watch on.
The Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus resisted arrest and assaulted an officer, Israeli police said in a statement.
But the police used excessive force during the raid, which was conducted without legal authority on the music hall venue, Mossawa said.
Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and Gaza are celebrating Christmas this week despite Israel’s imposition of restrictions on daily life there.
Celebrations for Dec. 25 were held in Bethlehem for the first time since the beginning of the war on Gaza.
Marching bands blew bagpipes in processions through the streets in the city of Jesus’ birth.
Churchgoers attended mass there at the Church of the Nativity and Palestinian children sang carols as the city hosted major celebrations.
Gaza’s small Christian community marked its first Christmas in the war-torn enclave since the signing of a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Amid the rubble strewn across Gaza, Christmas trees glitter brought sections of color to the territory, The Guardian reported.
Israel continued military operations and settler attacks took place despite the holiday.
In the town of Turmus Ayya outside Ramallah, Israeli settlers uprooted olive trees belonging to Palestinians, and near Hebron soldiers stormed the homes of residents and confiscated vehicles, according to the Palestinian news agency, WAFA.
Israel is carrying out mounting attacks against Christian sites in the occupied Palestinian territories.
A report in March documented 32 attacks on church properties and 45 assaults against Christians.
Pope Leo XIV, in his first Christmas address as pontiff, drew attention to the abysmal humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians there are living in tents amid fierce cold and rain, just as Jesus had been born in a stable, with God “pitching his fragile tent” among the peoples of the world, Leo said.
He added: “How, then, can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold.”
The pope highlighted the plight of “the defenseless populations, tried by so many wars.”
