Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa is set to travel to Jordan on Tuesday to meet with King Abdullah.
Syria and Jordan share a border and have common interests. During the Syrian civil war, Jordan hosted almost a million Syrians and gave support to Syrian rebels in southern Syria.
Jordan’s official news agency, Jordan News Agency (Petra), quoted Jordanian officials as saying Sharaa would visit the kingdom.
The visit marks the Syrian leader’s third foreign trip in the past month. He became president of the transitional government in January after assuming power on December 8 when Bashar al-Assad’s regime collapsed.
He has traveled to Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which is Syria’s northern neighbor. Historically, Saudi Arabia has been one of the leaders in the Arab and Muslim world.
Sharaa’s visit to Jordan follows comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, suggesting that southern Syria should be demilitarized. This has raised concern and protests in Syria, as it considers southern Syria to be a crucial region.
Over the past decade, southern Syria has been the stomping ground of Syrian rebels, who controlled it until 2018. An ISIS affiliate named Jaish Khalid also once controlled areas near Jordan and the Golan Heights. In addition, Hezbollah and pro-Iranian militias operated in the Golan and Quneitra areas.
Beyond the initial border area, there is Daraa, which was one of the centers of the Syrian rebellion. After Daraa, there is the countryside, followed by the Druze area of Jebel Druze and Suwayda, an area that has been seeking more autonomy. Beyond the Druze area is an area called Tanf and Rukban near the Iraq-Jordanian border. The US has forces in Tanf.
In January, the US Army published photos of US Army Lt.-Col. Ross Daly, commander of the Tanf Garrison, which is assigned to the 10th Mountain Division, Task Force Armadillo, discussing security and civil concerns with Col. Abu Turki, commander of the Syrian Free Army, and local Bedouin leaders.
This whole swath of southern Syria is important for security to prevent an ISIS resurgence and also to prevent Iranian militias from regrowing their tentacles. In addition, gangs had used this area to move drugs, primarily Captagon, a synthetic amphetamine-type stimulant. This threatened Jordan’s security and led to some firefights in the border region.
Demands for demilitarization
Israeli demands for demilitarization are raising eyebrows in Damascus. Israel has occupied areas in a buffer zone on the Golan border ceasefire line with Syria, which has the potential to anger the new Syrian government. The new regime will want support from Jordan on securing southern Syria, and it might discuss the Druze and US presence, key issues affecting the region.
“Sharaa is expected to hold wide-ranging talks over border security and ways of expanding commercial ties,” Saudi Arabia-based Arab News reported.
“Sharaa has pledged to stamp out rampant drug smuggling along the two countries’ borders, which proliferated during the rule of toppled Assad and [which] Jordan blamed on pro-Iranian militias that held sway in southern Syria.”Jordan hosted an international conference on Syria after Assad was overthrown, the report said.
“Officials have said they were ready to help Syria rebuild and promised to help it ease its acute power shortages by supplying it with electricity and gas,” Arab News reported.
Sharaa has also been invited to Egypt, where an Arab League meeting is expected to take place.