Syria's Ahmad Al Shara and King Abdullah of Jordan agree to co-operate on security

Drug and weapons-smuggling across shared border have curbed progress on resumption of ties

Jordan's King Abdullah II welcomes Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara at Marka airport in Amman on Wednesday. AFP

Syria's leader Ahmad Al Shara and Jordan's King Abdullah agreed on Wednesday to work on improving border security, Jordan's royal palace said, addressing a long-running problem that has affected trade and the movement of people between the two countries.

Mr Al Shara's short visit to Jordan was his first since his supporters appointed him President in late January, and his third visit abroad after trips to Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The countries share a 360km border.

“His majesty affirmed the need to co-ordinate closely in view of the challenges concerning border security and curbing the smuggling of weapons and narcotics,” a Jordanian palace statement said.

Mr Al Shara was received personally by the king at Amman's Marka Airport and driven to Basman Palace, where the pair were joined by Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein for a meeting. He spent several hours in Amman before returning to Damascus.

Mr Al Shara leads Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, the group that led the toppling of former president Bashar Al Assad on December 8. Mr Al Assad's last visit to Jordan was in 2009, before relations between the neighbours broke down over the regime's crackdown on the Syrian upising in 2011.

Jordan re-established limited ties with Mr Al Assad in recent years with the aim of resuming legal flows of goods and people under what officials called a step-for-step approach to solving problems emanating from Syria, and from the ousted regime's Iran-backed militia allies.

But Jordan did not see enough co-operation from the Assad regime on drug smuggling and border security. Jordanian support for Mr Al Assad remained limited, especially in his wider goal of lifting western sanctions and obtaining funding for reconstruction projects in regime-controlled areas.

In December HTS forces were posted along the border with Jordan, a major conduit for the Captagon drug trade, which has diminished since the removal of the Assad regime. Syria's Foreign Minister, Asaad Al Shibani, who accompanied Mr Al Shara on Wednesday's trip, agreed with his counterpart Ayman Safadi in January that the nations would co-operate on tackling drugs and weapons smuggling.

Syrians are mostly banned from crossing into Jordan, while Jordanians need security clearance to visit Syria. Before the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, millions of Jordanians travelled to Syria each year for shopping, holidays and business.

King Abdullah said co-operation with Syria should be expanded to energy, water and commerce, according to the palace statement. Jordan, which hosted the first international conference on Syria a week after Mr Al Assad was forced to flee to Russia, has said it is willing to help rebuild Syria and contribute to its stability as the nation recovers from its 13-year civil war.

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".

The kingdom previously tried to sell electricity to the Assad regime but the deal fell through, partly because of sanctions on Syria, which have been eased since Mr Al Assad's removal. Mr Al Shara's government is aiming to consolidate control in outlying areas of the country, but it is facing resistance from several religious and ethnic groups. Among them are the Druze in the southern governorate of Suweida on the border with Jordan, with whom the kingdom maintains historical ties.

The situation in Syria's south has been complicated by an Israeli announcement last week that it would not permit the spread of HTS forces in the area, which borders Israel. Late on Tuesday, Israel struck sites south of Damascus belonging to the Assad regime after HTS personnel moved in. The king condemned the Israeli attacks, and “affirmed support for Syria's unity and sovereignty”.

Mr Safadi said that the Israeli aggression is a blatant violation of international law, and that Israel must stop its "provocative" attacks on Syrian territory. "We absolutely stand with Syria," he said on X.

Jordan was among Arab countries that normalised relations with the Assad regime in the three years before the former dictator was overthrown, partly because it was seen as a counter-force to Islamist militants. HTS was previously linked with Al Qaeda and still has foreign fighters, including Jordanians, among its senior ranks.