Jordan, Syria leaders agree to bolster border security

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AMMAN (Reuters) -Jordan’s King Abdullah and Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa agreed on Wednesday to work together to secure their common border against arms and drug trafficking, officials said.

At a meeting with Sharaa in Amman, the Jordanian monarch also condemned Israel’s strikes late on Tuesday on southern Damascus and in southern Syria near the Jordan border, the latest in a series of Israeli attacks on Syrian military targets.

The leaders agreed that coordination was crucial for border security and for curbing arms and drug smuggling, a phenomenon that Jordan struggled to contain along its border during the rule of ousted president Bashar al-Assad, the palace added.

Jordan has blamed the rampant drug and weapons smuggling on pro-Iranian militias that held sway in southern Syria during Assad’s time. Sharaa pledged to stamp it out.

The visit is the new interim leader’s third foreign trip along with Saudi Arabia and Turkey since he came to power after leading the rebel offensive that ousted Iran-backed Assad.

Assad’s relationships with most of the Arab world and his neighbours were strained throughout the nearly 14-year Syrian war.

Jordan, which hosted the first international conference on Syria a week after Assad was forced to flee, wants to see a peaceful political transition in Syria, fearing a return of chaos and instability along its borders.

The monarch welcomed the outcome of a landmark national dialogue conference held at the presidential palace in Damascus on Tuesday, saying it was “an important step towards rebuilding Syria to attain the aspirations of the Syrian people.”

Jordanian 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.

(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Andrew Heavens, William Maclean)