This is How Hezbollah is Trying to Invade Jordan and the Gulf without Weapons

The warning voices of the increasing operations of the Lebanese “Hezbollah” militia's recruitment of youth continued in the southern governorates of Syria. They are also recruited in drug smuggling to Jordan and the Gulf.

The people of those areas complain that the militia is exploiting the deteriorating economic reality in southern Syria, to control these youth from the local community, and use them in operations outside the framework of the law.

One aspect of the danger in the matter is that drug smuggling operations are now throwing these youth to death. The last of these incidents took place while some were trying to smuggle drugs into Jordanian territory, causing the death of several people on July 29, 2021.

The southern regions of Syria (Daraa - As-Suwayda - Quneitra) have become the scene of the infiltration of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, for the purpose of multiple recruitments, and for several goals, foremost of which is drug smuggling.

The expansion of the Lebanese Hezbollah in this way is an investment in the state of security chaos and the economic siege imposed by the Syrian Regime on the province of As-Suwayda.

Therefore, the second aspect of the danger, according to observers, is the depletion of the youth of As-Suwayda, which is located on the Jordanian border, discrediting the province and plunging it into the “drug wars”.

 

A Crossing towards the Gulf

The plans of the Hezbollah militia are to make As-Suwayda a major distribution station for drugs and then smuggle it to the neighboring countries of Syria. It depends on some of the unemployed youth and on some of the Bedouin clans there.

Media sources confirmed that the Lebanese Hezbollah militia formed in June 2021 a local group called The Youth Gathering of the Villages, from agents who follow some of the Bedouin clans living west of the town of Al-Quraya, south of As-Suwayda.

The sources indicated that the Hezbollah militia financed this group, and it was entrusted with the task of protecting drug trafficking and smuggling operations from As-Suwayda towards Jordan.

On the other hand, Jordan announced the seizure of millions of drug pills on the border with Syria in previous years, and preventing its smuggling through its territory, whether inside Jordan, or with the intention of completing its way through the Jordanian desert towards the Gulf.

In the Eastern Military Region, the Jordanian Forces thwarted an attempt to smuggle 300,000 Captagon pills, and 7 palms of Hashish from Syria on August 3, 2021, as a result, one of the smugglers was injured and others fled to Syria.

Prior to that, on July 30, 2021, the Jordanian forces arrested a drug smuggler in the Eastern Military District, it managed to injure a number of the group's members, while many of them fled to Syria.

After the inspection, 362,600 Captagon pills and 273 kilos of Hashish were found, in addition to a Kalashnikov, 30 gunshots and a night vision device.

 

Drug Smuggling

There are no accurate figures for the quantities of drugs that are being seized on the (Syrian-Jordanian) borders.

This is given that Jordan witnesses repeated attempts to infiltrate and smuggle these materials on an almost daily basis, from the areas of influence of the Syrian Regime and the presence of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in southern Syria.

Jordan is not a consumer market for the drug trade, insofar as it represents a corridor for transporting these materials from Syria towards the Arab Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia, whose border with Jordan extends 744 kilometers.

Syrian opposition websites confirm that “the drug shipments' path originates from Hezbollah's areas of influence in Lebanon, it passes through the checkpoints of Assad's forces in Syria without inspection until it reaches As-Suwayda Governorate.”

The Enab Baladi website published in February 2021 an electronic conversation quoting one of the smugglers close to Hezbollah in As-Suwayda. 

In which he said, “The hashish substance originates from the Baalbek region in Lebanon, to the outskirts of Qalamoun and then to As-Suwayda Governorate by cars supported by armed elements.”

He stressed that “it crosses through the Syrian Regime's barriers, without questioning or inspecting its cargo.”

 

Exploitation of Youth

In view of these facts, the most important question remains: How did the Lebanese Hezbollah militia manage to recruit local agents in southern Syria for a drug smuggling mission to Jordan?

On this point, the Syrian journalist Nawras Aziz confirms that “Hezbollah deliberately recruited hundreds of youths into the drug trade, especially from the southern villages in As-Suwayda, adjacent to the Jordanian border.”

According to Aziz, “thousands of youths who refused compulsory service in the ranks of Assad's forces since 2012, some of them - in light of the lack of resources and unemployment - became victims of any offer made to them and brought money.”

He asserts that “the salary of these youths from recruitment to Libya or working with the Lebanese Hezbollah amounts to 250 thousand Syrian pounds ($78), the task is to help smuggle drugs across the border.”

The British newspaper The Guardian considered in a report on May 7, 2021, that Syria turned into “a drug state” through the production of the drug “Captagon.”

The newspaper indicated that the manufacture of drugs in the heart of the Syrian Regime has become a source of great financial gain in light of the collapsed economy. Stressing that what this trade provides exceeds Syria's deteriorating economy due to the war.

In this context, the Syrian academic and economic researcher, Dr. Rifat Amer, considers that “the success of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in recruiting Syrian youth in drug smuggling operations is due to the exploitation of poverty, corruption and loss of hope among these people.”

He talks to “Al-Estiklal” about “implicit Israeli-Iranian agreements to form a line extending around the Golan region to protect Israel. It is implemented by Hezbollah in addition to its role in protecting it from the southern flank of Lebanon.”

The Syrian economic researcher went on to say: “Israel's first concern is to protect its security. Therefore, it sees Iran and the Hezbollah militia as a greater safety valve than any other groups that are not led by one country.”

 

Wide Network

The Center for Operational Analysis and Research, which focuses on the situation in Syria, notes that “In 2020, the market value of Syria's Captagon exports reached at least $3.46 billion.”

The Lebanese Hezbollah is linked to a wide network of security officials affiliated with the Assad Regime, who went from “warlords” to “drug lords”. Because of the huge profits they reaped from facilitating the passage of these materials through Syria.

Saudi Arabia announced on April 23, 2021 that 2 million amphetamine pills were seized, hidden inside a shipment of pomegranate coming from Lebanon. It is evidence that the quantities produced are not produced by a small workshop. Rather, it requires laboratories and technologies for manufacturing and storage.

At that time, it considered that smuggling the shipment inside the pomegranate to Saudi Arabia, it could not have been done without direct facilitation by the Syrian Regime and the Lebanese Hezbollah, which now runs a number of pharmaceutical factories that have stopped working in Syria, in order to produce millions of drug pills.