Airstrikes kill Syrian drug kingpin

Airstrikes over southern Syria on May 8 killed one of the country’s most well-known drug dealers.

The attack came days after Jordan warned it would use force inside Syria to eliminate drug trafficking to its territories and from there to oil-rich Arab gulf nations, the Washington Post writes.

The first strike hit a home in the Syrian village of Shuab in Sweida province near the Jordanian border, killing Merhi Ramthan, his wife and six children, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The air strike was carried out at 03:48 local time.

The opposition war monitor and Sham FM reported another strike in the southern province of Daraa that hit a building. The Observatory said the building housed a drug factory.

According to local sources, drug production was carried out at the sites that were hit.

The Assad regime has not yet made any statements about the airstrike.

No one claimed responsibility for the incident.

Jordanian authorities also declined to comment.