Jordanian Warplanes Strike Drug Traffickers in Southern Syria, Where Damascus Exerts Little Control

In an operation codenamed “Jordanian Deterrence,” Amman’s fighter jets carried out strikes on at least five separate locations in the Syrian governorate of Suwayda on May 2, targeting “sites belonging to drug traffickers along the kingdom’s northern border.”

Jordan has faced a surge over the past several years in the smuggling of the highly addictive amphetamine Captagon in recent years, initially driven by the involvement of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in the drug’s production and trafficking. Amid an economic collapse and tough UN sanctions, the regime turned to narco-trafficking as a key source of revenue.

Despite the regime’s fall, Captagon production and trafficking have continued, largely due to the weakness of Syria’s central government. Also important is instability and fragmentation in southern Syria, particularly in Suwayda, which borders Jordan and remains divided among Druze factions and the Syrian government.

Balloons Become Unlikely Vehicle for Captagon Smuggling

So far this year, Jordan has interdicted at least 60 cross-border drug smuggling attempts from Syria, the majority of which relied on balloons to transport the drug, a method that has increasingly replaced smuggling along land routes. Traffickers launch helium-filled balloons from Syrian territory, relying on prevailing winds to carry them into Jordan. Smugglers equip the balloons with timers and remote-release mechanisms that allow operators to drop the payload inside Jordan, where receivers await collection. By avoiding ground infiltration, this method significantly lowers the risk of confrontation with Jordanian forces.

Jordan has increasingly resorted to military action to disrupt the increased smuggling. The May 2 strikes, for the first time, targeted areas in both southern and northern Suwayda, including urban centers such as Shahba, where Jordanian jets struck the former State Security branch. Druze factions, however, condemned the strikes and claimed that Jordanian strikes hit mostly residential areas that did not contain drugs.

Instability in Southern Syria

The lack of central government control over Syria’s border regions, particularly in the south, has fueled the continued flow of Captagon. Since the fall of the Assad regime, Damascus has struggled to maintain a stable presence in Suwayda. Following the events of July 2025, when government forces and Bedouin tribes clashed with Druze factions, leaving more than a thousand dead, the governorate became fragmented, with Damascus retaining control over parts of the northern and eastern countryside, while Druze factions consolidated control over the southern areas and Suwayda city.

Smugglers in Suwayda do not belong to a single faction or sect. The breakdown of authority has enabled opportunistic actors across communities to profit. While Druze factions and Bedouin groups routinely accuse each other of controlling smuggling routes, both sides have, in practice, facilitated elements of the trade. One figure targeted in the Jordanian strikes, Fares Saymoua, who is Druze, survived. Saymoua is widely reported to have longstanding ties to the Assad regime’s security apparatus and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Reports suggested that following the death of Marai al-Ramthan, a Bedouin, Saymoua assumed control of smuggling operations, leveraging networks of local traffickers, including members of the Druze Mazher family who allegedly “run a Captagon factory … and are actively involved in trafficking,” according to Forbidden Stories.

Washington Must Not Lose Focus on Captagon Trade

Captagon continues to flow across the Middle East. While Damascus has taken steps to dismantle the illicit trade, it remains far from eliminating it.

President Donald Trump lifted sanctions on Syria in June 2025, but measures targeting “Bashar al-Assad and his associates, human rights abusers, and Captagon traffickers” remain in place. However, the United States has not designated new Captagon facilitators since the fall of the regime, with the last round of sanctions issued in October 2024. Washington should use its existing authorities under Executive Order 13894 to target these individuals and curb the smuggling networks and broader trade.

Ahmad Sharawi is a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). For more analysis from Ahmad and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on X @FDD. Follow Ahmad on X @AhmadA_Sharawi. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.