King Abdullah II of Jordan expressed his doubts as to whether the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, is indeed in control of Syria, in light of the great problem between the two countries due to the smuggling of drugs and weapons into Jordanian territory.
Abdullah II said in statements reported by the "Al-Monitor" news website yesterday, Wednesday, September 20, that Bashar al-Assad, in accordance with his statements, does not want smuggling operations to occur, and he also does not want a conflict with Jordan, adding, "I don't know what The extent of his control (in their country).
King Abdullah spoke a lot about the situation in Syria, especially about the flourishing drug trade in the country, and said: "Iran and government officials are profiting from this."
He continued, "We fight every day at our borders to prevent massive amounts of drugs from entering our country, and this is a major issue that is being exploited by all sides, including some people within the regime, the Iranians and their agents."
King Abdullah also referred to the ongoing demonstrations in southern Syria protesting against the deterioration of the economic situation there, and warned that this could lead to a new flow of refugees to Jordan, and also to Lebanon.
The Jordanian king emphasized his country's inability to absorb more than the approximately 1.3 million Syrian refugees already in the country, due to the decrease in international support, and noted: "We cannot bear it any more beyond what we have already taken on. International support has decreased significantly."