Another infiltrator killed on Syria border

AMMAN — Border Guards on Tuesday foiled an infiltration attempt, shooting dead a suspect who tried to illegally cross from the Kingdom into Syria, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted a source from the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF) as saying on Wednesday.

The troops last week foiled an infiltration attempt, killing two suspects who tried to illegally enter the Kingdom from Syria.

The border troops applied the rules of engagement and killed the two suspects, who were reportedly in possession of around 30kg of Captagon pills, which were sent to the concerned authorities.

Attempts to infiltrate Jordan or cross into Syria have continued even after JAF declared the northern and northeastern borders sealed military zones. 

The borders were closed following a terror attack that killed seven troops in June last year.

During a press tour to the northeastern borders in May 2016, a senior army officer said Jordan’s borders with war-hit Syria and Iraq are well-protected and tightly sealed with the Border Guard units ready to deal with any security situation within less than a minute.

Brigadier General Saber Mahayrah, commander of the Border Guard, said that troops deployed on the border line with Syria and Iraq, extending along 573 kilometres, change the rules of engagement according to the situation, be it security infiltration or smuggling attempts.

During the tour, Mahayrah said that the Border Guards warned warring parties in Syria, “regardless of  who they are”, to keep a distance of no less than seven kilometres away from the border line with Jordan.

“Any attempt to get closer to us is always faced with our heavy fire,” Mahayrah said, adding that sometimes the 7km-buffer is subject to change depending on the type of weapons Syria’s warring parties use against each other.