Jordan on Thursday launched air strikes inside Syria against suspected warehouses and hideouts of Iranian-backed drug smugglers, Jordanian and regional intelligence sources said, according to Reuters.
The Jordanian army has stepped up a campaign against drug dealers after protracted clashes last month with dozens of infiltrators from Syria linked to pro-Iranian militias, carrying large hauls who crossed its border with weapons and explosives.
The sources told Reuters on Thursday that jets bombed the suspected home of a leading drug dealer in the town of Shaab in Sweida province while the other strike hit warehouses near the village of Al-Ghariya.
Ryan Marouf, editor of Suwayda 24, a Syrian news website, who has tracked the drug war, said a plume of smoke was seen from the border area soon after the strikes.
"The first strike targeted a leading drug dealer linked to Iranian militias and the other raid bombed a farm where drugs are stored," Marouf said.
Jordanian officials say that Hezbollah and other pro-Iranian militias who control much of southern Syria were behind a surge in drug and weapons smuggling.
Iran and Hezbollah say the allegations are part of Western plots against the country. Syria denies complicity with Iranian-backed militias.
In August, the Jordanian military shot down a drone loaded with TNT explosives en route from Syria.
That incident came days after the Jordanian military downed a drone carrying crystal meth that was flying into Jordanian territory from neighboring Syria.