Jordan army kills drug runners at Syria border amid soaring Captagon trade
Al JazeeraNov 28, 2023
Syria: At Least 10 Civilians Killed in Suspected Jordan Strikes
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The Facts
Local media in Syria's southern province of Sweida and activists reported on Thursday that at least 10 civilians, including two children and five women, were killed at dawn that day in airstrikes some have attributed to Jordan.
The air raids reportedly targeted the houses of two men identified as Omar Talab and Turki al-Halabi, in Orman and Malah, respectively, destroying them and three surrounding buildings.
The Spin
Narrative A
This airstrike cannot be justified as the targeting of drug smugglers — it needs to be called what it is, a massacre. Innocent women and children were callously killed by a careless Jordanian raid that once again violated Syrian territory. If Jordan genuinely wants to tackle the drug problem on the border, it must focus on drug smugglers and their backers instead of indiscriminately striking residential areas.
Narrative B
First and foremost, there's no evidence that Jordan is responsible for these deadly airstrikes in Syria. Those who have attributed them to Amman (mostly Syrian outlets) have jumped to such a conclusion based solely on the fact that the kingdom has legitimately intensified its campaign against drug smugglers to prevent them from infiltrating across the border.
