Jordan air strikes kill prominent drug smuggler, target Iran-linked amphetamine factory in Syria
(Worthy News) – Jordan carried out airstrikes on southern Syria on Monday, targeting an Iran-linked drugs factory and killing well-known drug smuggler Merhi al-Ramthan and his family, The Medialine reports. The strikes came as Syria was reinstated in the Arab League earlier this month.
Jordan is both a destination and major transit route to Gulf countries of the drug amphetamine Captagon (fenethylline), which Western and Arab states claim is produced and distributed in Syria, Reuters reports.
Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and his associates have allegedly made billions of dollars from allowing the trafficking of the drug, The Medialine said.
One of Monday’s strikes hit a home in Shuab, in As-Suwayda Governorate, near the Jordanian border, killing al-Ramthan, his wife, and six children, The Medialine reports. A second attack targeted a building in Daraa Governorate, which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights believes was used as a drug factory.
“Activists and the war monitor suspect Jordan is behind the airstrikes, as al-Ramthan was one of the most wanted by Jordanian authorities for facilitating drug smuggling across the border,” The Medialine said in its report. “Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi reiterated the country’s commitment to combating drug smuggling, saying Jordan would take necessary measures, including military action, to eliminate the threat.”