Jordan Launches Airstrikes Inside Syria, Targeting 'Captagon' Drug Hubs in Post-Assad Power Vacuum

The Assad regime is gone, but its multi-billion dollar drug empire remains a ghost haunting the region. Jordan’s military has launched strikes against drug and weapons smugglers in its northern border regions with Syria, a decisive move signaling a new, more aggressive phase in the fight against trafficking networks thriving in the post-Assad chaos.

Cross-Border Strike on 'Launch Points'

The Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported that the strikes on Wednesday neutralized a number of traffickers and destroyed “factories and workshops” used by the groups. The attacks targeted sites that served as “launch points” for smuggling operations into Jordanian territory. According to Reuters file photos from the region, Jordan has long maintained a high-alert status on this border.

The Jordanian military stated the operation was based on “precise intelligence” and coordinated with regional partners, though it didn't name them. A military source warned that Jordan would “continue to counter any threats with force at the appropriate time and place.”

Echoes from Inside Syria

Syrian state media reported that the airstrikes hit locations in the southern and eastern countryside of Syria’s Suwayda governorate. A local resident told the AFP news agency the bombardment “was extremely intense.” The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added that an abandoned military barracks of the former al-Assad regime was among the sites hit. As of now, there have been no initial reports of casualties and no official comment from authorities in Damascus.

At the heart of this conflict is Captagon, an addictive amphetamine-type stimulant. Before the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, the drug had become the regime's largest export, providing a critical economic lifeline worth billions of dollars during the country's civil war.