In the early stages of the US-led war on ISIS in Syria, US officers would inform the Syrian military when coalition warplanes would be crossing into the country to strike at the group.
“The Syrian regime would turn off its air defences,” says a former European envoy who witnessed communication exchanges between the two sides at a command centre in Amman between 2014 to 2015.
The military channel was open, although the US, Jordan and other countries flying planes in the coalition supported rebel groups fighting President Bashar Al Assad.
With his survival still at stake in that period, Mr Assad had an interest in showing that he could still be useful for Washington, which baulked at striking his troops directly.
There has since been a rapprochement between the Syrian president and Jordan, and with other Arab countries, with crucial encouragement from Moscow.
The changes culminated in the readmission of Damascus to the Arab League last month, after a Chinese-brokered detente between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Mr Assad’s second most powerful ally.
So when a reported Jordanian air strike killed a Syrian drug dealer in southern Syria six weeks ago, speculation rose that it was conducted in co-ordination with the Syrian military.
The May 8 attack near the border with Jordan was the first use of air power against a player in the multi-billion-dollar-a-year narcotics trade centred in southern Syria.
The drugs, which consist mainly of the amphetamine pills known as Captagon, flow to Jordan and then to Saudi Arabia.
Captagon has emerged as the most lucrative component of a war economy that developed in Syria since the country plunged into civil war in late 2011, after the uprising against the ruling Assad family became militarised. In that year, the Arab League suspended Syria's membership.
A western diplomat in Amman said “the regime appears to have given its consent” for the air strike, pointing out absence of any reports of it in Syrian official media. The diplomat emphasised a lack of operational details to make a definitive judgment about the issue.
This narrative helps Mr Al Assad project himself as a partner in an escalating drug war on the Syrian-Jordanian border, and distance himself from Iran. Jordan has accused the Syrian army and pro-Iranian militias of fuelling the drugs trade.
The illicit trade boomed in 2018. In that year, the Syrian military regained control of most of the southern part of the country from the western and Arab-backed rebel groups.
A Jordanian official downplayed suggestions that there was co-ordination with Damascus on the air strike.
“Fighter jets can fire at targets from fairly long distances,” he said, suggesting that the strike may have been carried out without the plane entering Syria.
The target, Murei Al Ramthan, was a local figure who acted as a link between narcotics manufacturers in Syria and Lebanon and the export market, says Syrian researcher Ryan Maarouf.
Ramthan was not a producer, nor an important member of military or militia units linked to the cartels, said Mr Maarouf, who works at Suwayda24, an organisation of citizen journalists in southern Syria.
At least five of Al Ramthan’s children were reportedly killed in the attack.
Over the past several weeks, fear of more air strikes drove some of his peers to evacuate border areas with Jordan to the interior. On their way, they freely crossed Syrian army and intelligence roadblocks, says Mr Maarouf.
“Trust between them and the regime has been shaken,” he said. “One day the regime could sacrifice them, but it continues to provide them with cover.”
'Summer holiday' for smugglers
Gauging whether the air strike have curbed drug flows is difficult because the attack coincided with summer, when mostly clear weather makes smuggling easier to spot by Jordanian border guards, he said.
“Summer is an annual holiday for smugglers,” Mr Maarouf said. “They will come back in the [autumn]. May be they will change smuggling routes and take more precautions.”
Co-ordinates of the strike on Google Earth show the outline of a building where Al Ramthan reportedly lived in the village of Shaab, 20km north of the border with Jordan.
The village is part of the Black Desert, a volcanic plateau that has historically contained main smuggling routes. The co-ordinates were provided by a member of the Syrian opposition, who monitors developments in southern Syria.
Saud Al Sharafat. Directer of the Shorufat Center for Globalization and Terrorism Studies in Amman, said even if Damascus co-operated with Jordan in the air strike, the kingdom remains dissatisfied with a lack of “a clear and frank commitment” from Mr Assad to halt the drug flows.
But Jordan, he said, acquiesced to a Saudi-led drive to rehabilitate Syria to the Arab League, as Iran wanted, without securing such a commitment.
Unlike other Arab countries that have been improving ties with Damascus, Jordan depends on aid from the US, which has opposed the Arab rapprochement with Mr Assad.
The US has also paid hundreds of millions of dollars to bolster Jordan’s defences with Syria, and has troops in Syria near its south-eastern border with Jordan, which could give Washington influence over Jordanian policies towards Syria.
A western military official, who was recently in Amman, told The National that “regardless of the development of ties between Syria and Saudi Arabia and others, Jordan will continue to be sending messages to the Syrian regime that smuggling must be stopped, or certain groups on the ground will be attacked”.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
RESULTS
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m
Winner: JAP Almahfuz, Fernando Jara (jockey), Irfan Ellahi (trainer).
5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh90,000 1,400m
Winner: AF Momtaz, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.
6pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 1,400m
Winner: Yaalail, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Championship Listed (PA) Dh180,000 1,600m
Winner: Ihtesham, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami.
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,600m
Winner: Dahess D’Arabie, Fernando Jara, Helal Al Alawi.
7.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 2.200m
Winner: Ezz Al Rawasi, Connor Beasley, Helal Al Alawi.
McLaren GT specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 620bhp
Torque: 630Nm
Price: Dh875,000
On sale: now
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
UAE SQUAD
Khalid Essa (Al Ain), Ali Khaseif (Al Jazira), Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah), Mahmoud Khamis (Al Nasr), Yousef Jaber (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai), Khalifa Al Hammadi (Jazira), Salem Rashid (Jazira), Shaheen Abdelrahman (Sharjah), Faris Juma (Al Wahda), Mohammed Shaker (Al Ain), Mohammed Barghash (Wahda), Abdulaziz Haikal (Shabab Al Ahli), Ahmed Barman (Al Ain), Khamis Esmail (Wahda), Khaled Bawazir (Sharjah), Majed Surour (Sharjah), Abdullah Ramadan (Jazira), Mohammed Al Attas (Jazira), Fabio De Lima (Al Wasl), Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Khalfan Mubarak (Jazira), Habib Fardan (Nasr), Khalil Ibrahim (Wahda), Ali Mabkhout (Jazira), Ali Saleh (Wasl), Caio (Al Ain), Sebastian Tagliabue (Nasr).
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
The biog
Favourite food: Fish and seafood
Favourite hobby: Socialising with friends
Favourite quote: You only get out what you put in!
Favourite country to visit: Italy
Favourite film: Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Family: We all have one!
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Astra%20Tech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMarch%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAbdallah%20Abu%20Sheikh%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20technology%20investment%20and%20development%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%20size%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24500m%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
When Umm Kulthum performed in Abu Dhabi
Known as The Lady of Arabic Song, Umm Kulthum performed in Abu Dhabi on November 28, 1971, as part of celebrations for the fifth anniversary of the accession of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan as Ruler of Abu Dhabi. A concert hall was constructed for the event on land that is now Al Nahyan Stadium, behind Al Wahda Mall. The audience were treated to many of Kulthum's most well-known songs as part of the sold-out show, including Aghadan Alqak and Enta Omri.
War
Director: Siddharth Anand
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Ashutosh Rana, Vaani Kapoor
Rating: Two out of five stars
History's medical milestones
1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
What is Genes in Space?
Genes in Space is an annual competition first launched by the UAE Space Agency, The National and Boeing in 2015.
It challenges school pupils to design experiments to be conducted in space and it aims to encourage future talent for the UAE’s fledgling space industry. It is the first of its kind in the UAE and, as well as encouraging talent, it also aims to raise interest and awareness among the general population about space exploration.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
