Jordan is going through a lot of things right now, including security challenges. It finds itself mired in the open-ended war with a highly sophisticated network of drug traffickers on its border with Syria.

However, the security threat is not limited to Jordan only, which has been described as a drug transit country, with most drugs finding their way to the Gulf countries. Moreover, this multi-billionaire-dollar racket network poses a political and social threat to the Hashemite Kingdom.

The smuggling of drugs from Syria is not a new thing, but things are going out of control from the nation in recent years, especially after the eruption of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

In starting, Jordan was in fear and worried that they would lose control by the Syrian regular army of the 360-km border with the Kingdom, but the fear later was the terrorist groups filled the vacuum left by the Syrian army.

Daesh and other radical groups moved close to the Jordanian border, and Amman’s forces clashed with armed infiltrators.

When the Syrian government forces recovered their control of Derra in 2018, Jordan reopened their border with Syria. That move was followed by normalizing relations with the Syrian regime for political and economic reasons.

Syrian ministers were received in Amman, and trade delegations visited Damascus in order to end the regime’s isolation.

King Abdullah received a phone call from President Bashar Assad last year in October. It was clearly visible that the two countries were taking confidence-building measures to normalize their ties.

However, then the smuggling of drugs increased from the side of Syria. The Jordanian army had to change the rules of engagement on the border, issuing a warning that a shoot-to-kill order had been issued to stem the rising tide of infiltrations, which had become almost daily.

However, the smugglers’ identities were not revealed officially. Somehow, some also said that the Syrian army is involved in this trafficking, particularly the notorious 4th Armored Division under the command of Assad’s brother Maher.

The fact behind this is the smugglers are either the group of an army or being protected by armed personnel has put Jordanian soldiers in danger. Even the army changed the rules of the border, which is why tensions became more, and King Abdullah visited the Eastern Military Zone last week to support the troops and call on them to deal firmly with smuggling attempts.