AMMAN, Jordan—Jordanian soldiers killed 27 armed smugglers with a large quantity of amphetamines on Jan. 27 as they tried to cross the border from Syria during a dawn snowstorm, an army spokesman said. Others also carrying drugs fled back into Syria during the attempted crossing, one of a growing number of such incidents over the past year—many involving firefights—that have prompted the army to toughen its rules of engagement with smugglers. Several others among the smugglers, who were “supported by other armed groups,” were wounded, the army said in a statement. It didn’t specify where along the border the incursion took place. Many smugglers have favored Jordan’s main border crossing to the Persian Gulf region, where the army has found drugs hidden in Syrian trucks, most commonly an amphetamine known as Captagon. Jordanian officials say Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group and militias, which control much of southern Syria, are behind the surge …
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