Jordan Foils Plot to Smuggle Terrorists, Weapons Along Syria Border
AMMAN (Dispatches) – The Jordanian army says it has foiled a plot for smuggling weapons, narcotics and terrorists through an abandoned oil pipeline along its border with Syria.
"The Jordanian armed forces were able ... to thwart a plan to smuggle weapons, drugs and terrorists," the army said in a statement.
"A group of terrorists and drug traffickers" had used a house near the border and the disused Trans-Arabian Pipeline (Tapline) to "dig and prepare a series of tunnels for use in smuggling operations and to carry out terrorist attacks," the statement added.
Authorities have ordered the destruction of the tunnels and had the pipeline unearthed in an attempt to prevent other "smugglers and terrorists" from using it, the army said.
The 1,200-kilometer Tapline was built in 1950 and used to transport Saudi oil through Jordan and Syria's Golan Heights onto Lebanon and the Mediterranean, but transit through the pipeline stopped in 1981 following the Lebanese civil war.
Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis in 2011, there have been numerous reports about extremist militants in Syria being trained in secret camps inside the Jordanian territory.
Daesh terrorists were reportedly among the militants initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government.
Jordan shares a desert border of more than 370 kilometers with Syria and says it is hosting 1.3 million Syrian refugees.
Jordan’s geographical characteristics, including its Tanf garrison in the southeastern Syrian desert, have grabbed Washington’s attention in its quest for an ideal logistics and supply hub.
In another development, the Syrian army has reportedly thwarted an attempt by a "terrorist group" to infiltrate the Talkalakh district of the central province of Homs from neighboring Lebanon, killing a member of the group.
The official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Saturday that the border guards clashed with a terrorist group near the village of M’arbo in Talkalakh western countryside as they were attempting to sneak into the country via an unofficial border crossing from the Lebanese territory.
"The clashes ended with the killing of a member of the terrorist group, and the rest fleeing towards Lebanese territory," SANA reported.
Lebanon has been suffering from the spillover of militancy in Syria. According to Lebanon’s Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk, some 400 members of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group are holed up in areas on the Lebanese side of the frontier, while hundreds more are on the Syrian side.
The Tel Aviv regime has been reported, time and again, to have provided anti-Damascus terrorists with material support and medical treatment. The regime also carries out regular strikes at Syrian targets in support of the terrorists.
A member of Jordanian security walks near the main Jaber border crossing in Mafraq, Jordan, as smoke rises on the Syrian side after violence broke out near the border, April 2, 2015.
"The Jordanian armed forces were able ... to thwart a plan to smuggle weapons, drugs and terrorists," the army said in a statement.
"A group of terrorists and drug traffickers" had used a house near the border and the disused Trans-Arabian Pipeline (Tapline) to "dig and prepare a series of tunnels for use in smuggling operations and to carry out terrorist attacks," the statement added.
Authorities have ordered the destruction of the tunnels and had the pipeline unearthed in an attempt to prevent other "smugglers and terrorists" from using it, the army said.
The 1,200-kilometer Tapline was built in 1950 and used to transport Saudi oil through Jordan and Syria's Golan Heights onto Lebanon and the Mediterranean, but transit through the pipeline stopped in 1981 following the Lebanese civil war.
Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis in 2011, there have been numerous reports about extremist militants in Syria being trained in secret camps inside the Jordanian territory.
Daesh terrorists were reportedly among the militants initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government.
Jordan shares a desert border of more than 370 kilometers with Syria and says it is hosting 1.3 million Syrian refugees.
Jordan’s geographical characteristics, including its Tanf garrison in the southeastern Syrian desert, have grabbed Washington’s attention in its quest for an ideal logistics and supply hub.
In another development, the Syrian army has reportedly thwarted an attempt by a "terrorist group" to infiltrate the Talkalakh district of the central province of Homs from neighboring Lebanon, killing a member of the group.
The official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Saturday that the border guards clashed with a terrorist group near the village of M’arbo in Talkalakh western countryside as they were attempting to sneak into the country via an unofficial border crossing from the Lebanese territory.
"The clashes ended with the killing of a member of the terrorist group, and the rest fleeing towards Lebanese territory," SANA reported.
Lebanon has been suffering from the spillover of militancy in Syria. According to Lebanon’s Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk, some 400 members of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group are holed up in areas on the Lebanese side of the frontier, while hundreds more are on the Syrian side.
The Tel Aviv regime has been reported, time and again, to have provided anti-Damascus terrorists with material support and medical treatment. The regime also carries out regular strikes at Syrian targets in support of the terrorists.
A member of Jordanian security walks near the main Jaber border crossing in Mafraq, Jordan, as smoke rises on the Syrian side after violence broke out near the border, April 2, 2015.