Colonel Mustafa al-Khiyari, director of the military information department of the Jordanian army, considered that what is happening on the northeastern borders of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is due to the fact that we are facing a war on these borders, which is a “war on drugs.” With regard to infiltration and smuggling operations and attempts, mainly drug smuggling.
Al-Khiyari pointed out that “smuggling is systematically run by organized organizations supported by external parties and it depends on what we see, and we, the armed forces, are what we see and what we encounter on our northern borders on a daily basis. . Smuggling operations are carried out in groups of 3-4 groups, and each group consists of 10-20 people. These groups are divided into a group working on reconnaissance, another group working to disperse our surveillance efforts, and another group waiting for a suitable opportunity to carry out smuggling operations. These groups sometimes receive support from unruly groups from among the Syrian border guards and other groups, and therefore they are systematic.
Al-Khiyari added that “His Majesty the King made it clear during an interview with the Hoover Institution that the vacuum that Russia is currently leaving, especially in southern Syria, is being filled by Iran through its tools, namely the Iranian militias, and from our observations we are seeing undisciplined groups and armed criminal groups carrying out the process of smuggling.” Professionally, and recently I have begun to use weapons to carry out smuggling operations with the use of force, and the nature of smuggling requires elements that facilitate smuggling operations and they are smugglers on both sides of the borders , and this matter is present at the borders in all countries of the world.
Al-Khiyari touched on the crises in neighboring countries, the most notable consequences of which have been the spread of terrorist organizations, whether in the Iraqi or Syrian arena, and evidence of this is the repeated attacks carried out by ISIS against the Iraqi army and in areas very close to the border with Jordan, and also at the scene. In Syria, there is a proliferation of many terrorist organizations, for example, but not limited to the terrorist organization ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and Ansar al-Din, and this is part of, and there is another part of terrorist organizations, namely Iranian organizations, and these organizations are more dangerous because they collude with foreign agendas and target Jordan’s national security.”
Source: El Nashra