An airstrike on southern Syria, likely carried out by Jordan's air force, kills 9

Source: Associated Press

An airstrike on southern Syria, likely carried out by Jordan’s air force, kills 9

BY BASSEM MROUE
Updated 7:09 AM EST, January 18, 2024

BEIRUT (AP) — An airstrike on southern Syria early Thursday killed at least nine people and was probably carried out by Jordan’s air force, Syrian opposition activists said, the latest in a series of strikes in an area where cross-border drug smugglers have been active.

There was no immediate confirmation from Jordan on the strike that hit the province of Sweida,

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said nine people, including two children and at least three women, were killed in the strike on the village of Orman.

The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdurrahman, said the people killed had nothing to do with smuggling, suggesting that the Jordanian air force might have received incorrect intelligence from local residents.

Smugglers have used Jordan as a corridor over the past years to smuggle highly addictive Captagon amphetamines out of Syria, mainly to oil-rich Arab Gulf states. ...

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/syria-jordan-sweida-captagon-smuggling-strike-24423e9b3b1038e5bced4a446dd3aee6