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AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- Jordanian police are questioning two
Syrians who allegedly tried to smuggle a large cache of arms including
surface-to-air missiles into the kingdom, a security official said
Wednesday.
The official said earlier that
preliminary reports indicated that five had been arrested near the
northern Syrian border early Tuesday. He said the reason for discrepancy
in the number was not immediately clear and declined to elaborate
further.
He said anti-tank missiles, surface-to-air missiles and assault rifles were seized with the two men.
He declined to say if the alleged smugglers were affiliated with any side in Syria's civil war.
"There
is an investigation now to determine if the two men were rebels seeking
to hide weapons in Jordan, or that they smuggled them in with the
malicious intention of staging attacks here," he said.
His
account was confirmed by another security official. Both insisted on
anonymity because they are not allowed to publically comment on a
security matter under investigation.
Last
Thursday, police said they arrested another group of smugglers,
including Syrians, trying to bring in arms. They said it was the largest
cache to be brought from Syria to the kingdom.
Jordan
is concerned that Syria's war will spill across the border, and in
particular that al-Qaida-linked groups of the rebels or agents of
Damascus or its allies, like the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah, will
stage attacks to destabilize the pro-U.S. kingdom.
Despite
repeated public government denials, Jordan acted earlier this year as a
transit point for weapons financed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar and
destined for Syrian rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad.
Jordan
wants to avoid further friction with its larger and more powerful
Syrian neighbor, with whom relations have traditionally been bumpy over
the years.
Syria has been traditionally
suspicious of Jordan's alliance with the United States and its 1994
peace treaty with Israel, one of two signed agreements Israel has with
Arab countries.
Jordan is a fiery critic of
Syria's alliance with Iran, which adheres to the rival Shiite sect of
Islam. Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Muslim governments worry
that Iran's growing influence in the region, stretching from Iraq to
Syria, would eventually engulf countries in the Persian Gulf, where
there are Shiite communities like in Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
itself.