AMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The kingdom of Jordan, in its foreign policy and interaction with neighboring Syria, attaches a special attention as these directly affect relations between the two countries and national security of both.
As the ten-year-old Syrian crisis prolongs and the affects it caused to Syrian people and neighboring countries, Jordan has been eager to find a solution to the crisis, ending the current situation in the neighboring country towards a political solution and to be [Jordan] relieved of refugee burdens among others.
In an earlier statement, the King of Jordan, Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, said, in early October, the Kingdom would continue to push forward for a political solution in Syria.
In a meeting with political figures, the king said, “Jordan wants a solution that preserves the unity of Syria and guarantees a safe and voluntary return of refugees.”
At the end of September, Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman al-Safadi, told The National that his country exerts a regional and global support for a political process led by Arab countries to find an end to the struggle in Syria.
Al-Safadi’s remakes were made on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly 77th session in New York.
He indicated the initiative is based on the UN resolutions 2254 and 2642 that entails a road map for Syria.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister said countries involved in finding a solution to the Syrian crisis have to adopt a gradual approach to end the struggle in Syria.
On September 23, al-Safadi held talks with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad on a number of issues including the refugees on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly 77th session.
Jordan’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in a press release that they discussed efforts exerted to reach a political solution for the Syrian crisis that preserves the unity of Syria and its sovereignty and brings peace and security and rids it of terror and prepares the ground for the voluntary return of refugees.
Since 2011 Jordan has received 1.3 million refugees. 650.000 are registered at the UN offices while the remainder entered the country prior to the revolution by kinship, trade or marriages.
Time and again, Jordan repeated that Syrian refugees living in Jordan be supported.
On October 2, the US announced new aids estimated at 22 million USD to Syrian refugees in Jordan.
In a statement, USAID said the new funding would enable World Food Programme (WFP) to render food rations and sustainable monthly paid aid to nearly 465.000 refugees in the short-term.
Neutrality and support
Since the outbreak of the crisis in Syria in 2011, Jordan was adamant to remain neutral. Though Jordan was a main supporter of the Syrian armed opposition since 2012, its position was changed in 2017 and 2018 becoming a main supporter to the Russian initiated campaign of the government against Syrian south in 2018.
The reason behind such a dramatic change lies in the Jordanian will to return peace and security to its northern borders and rid south Syria from the Islamic State Organization (ISIS) not to mention the Iran and Hezbollah’s mass presence in the area.
In 2021, relations between Syria and Jordan were heading towards normalization, resulting in many meetings between both countries.
In October 2021, Syrian President Bashar Assad called his Jordanian counterpart King Abdullah for the very first time since 2011.
Following the phone call between the two presidents, both parties initiated talks and deliberations on all arenas. However, in the last decade, Jordan has been seizing large amounts of smuggled drugs most culminated in 2022.
Drug war
The nature of smuggling activities has changed dramatically on the Syrian-Jordanian border that extends on 375 km either via border crossings in Irbid governorate in Jordan through Ramtha border crossing in the north off Daraa border office on the Syrian side or via Jaber/ Nasib border crossing.
In the 1990s, smuggling remained limited to livestock, cigarettes and arms. However, today drug (hashish, Captagon among others) is the most predominant smuggled item.
Based on these facts, Jordan had to secure its border and abort smuggling operations. King Abdullah II noted to the role played by the army in repelling drugs the majority of which coming from Syrian border via persons whom Jordan accuse to be factions affiliated with Iran or Hezbollah that actively operate on the border.
Al-Safadi noted in late September he had met Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian where they discussed the role of Iranian factions, saying the issue is still a “big challenge.”
“We need stability in the south [of Syria] dangers posed by drugs are mass threats,” al-Safadi said.
Iranian risk
In April, king of Jordan warned that Iran and its proxies would fill vacuum following the retreat of Russian forces from the Syrian south due to preoccupation with the war in Ukraine that could create problems on its border.
According to Jordanian officials, 16 million Captagon pills were seized on the border coming from Syrian territory in 2021. Over the first five months of 2022, the number reached 20 million, today such a figure stands at 30 million.
Inflation hit other kinds of drug coming from Syria that were seized in Jordan. In 2021 a kilo of Heroin was seized while this figures jumped to 36 kg in 2022.
At the same time, trade flourished between the two neigboring countries, Irfan al-Khasawneh, Director General of the Jordanian-Syrian Joint Industrial Free Zone, announced trade exchange between the two countries reached 85.000 tons of good estimated at 150 million USD.
On January 2, Damascus and Amman announced the opening of a Jordanian-Syrian Joint Industrial Free Zone after six years of interval.
Relations between Syrian and Jordan are at their best, owing to trade exchange. However, the main problem Jordan faces is that of drugs and lack of security coordination on the border and the Iranian presence in south of Syria.