Syria’s protection minister visited Jordan on Sunday to debate stability alongside their mutual border, the primary such assembly because the Syrian battle a decade in the past when the 2 neighbors backed rival factions, officers mentioned.
The assembly follows a significant army offensive to retake the final insurgent stronghold in southern Syria, and this month after re-establishing management of Dera, a metropolis south of Damascus, in a Russian-brokered deal. which averted an all-out army offensive led by the Iranian-backed. Army items.
Jordan’s army mentioned the Jordanian military chief, Lieutenant General Yousef Hunaiti, met with Syrian Defense Minister and Chief of Staff Ali Ayyub on the state of affairs within the dera and mentioned points such because the battle in opposition to terrorism and drug trafficking within the area. .
“The talks are on all common issues of concern to intensify future coordination,” an announcement from Jordan’s army mentioned.
The Syrian military’s pro-Iran elite Fourth Division had for greater than two months cordoned off the world the place the primary peaceable protests in opposition to the authoritarian regime started in 2011, earlier than safety forces took motion and unrest civil struggle. developed in
Jordan’s King Abdullah, a staunch US ally, praised Russian President Vladimir Putin on a go to to Moscow in August, the place he mentioned Russian troops helped flip the tide of the Syrian battle in favor of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. That, succeeded in stabilizing the nation.
Jordan had for years backed mainstream Western-backed rebels who managed southern Syria till an operation in 2018 by the Syrian army backed by Russian air energy and Iranian-backed militias.
Thousands of rebels, who had as soon as obtained arms and assist by means of Jordan, handed over their weapons underneath give up offers brokered by Moscow.
Moscow on the time gave ensures to Israel, Jordan and Washington that it will stop Iranian-backed militias from increasing their affect within the space that additionally borders Israel’s Golan Heights.
The recapture of the Dera by authorities forces earlier this month has introduced management of a number of cities and villages that till just lately defied state authority.
Senior Western diplomats say Jordan and Israel are involved a few rising Iranian presence by means of their penetration of Syrian military items and the unfold of Tehran-funded militias, which now maintain sway in southern Syria.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah has additionally strengthened its presence in Qunitra province, which borders Dera to the west with Israel’s Golan Heights.
Sources mentioned army talks between Syria and Jordan additionally addressed a significant enhance in drug trafficking in current months, which Jordanian officers say is behind Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
Hezbollah denies Western allegations that it’s behind a multi-billion greenback drug smuggling community that strikes from Syria to exports into the Gulf through Jordan.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
