The fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 not only marked the collapse of one of the most brutal dictatorships in modern history. It also signified the end of the first genuine narco-state in the Middle East. The despot in Damascus had developed the manufacturing and trafficking of captagon, a particularly addictive amphetamine, to the point of becoming the world's leading producer.
The billions of dollars in profits generated far exceeded Syria's gross national product, allowing the Assad regime to circumvent international sanctions and maintain powerful networks. It was the 4th Armored Division, led by the dictator's own brother, Maher al-Assad, that was responsible for protecting captagon labs and trafficking convoys, ensuring they could operate with impunity.
Ahmad al-Sharaa, the current interim president of Syria, previously led the opposition stronghold of Idlib, in the northwest of the country, as the leader of the Al-Qaeda local branch, which in 2017 became Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, or "Organization for the Liberation of the Levant"). The Idlib administration established a very active security service repressing drug trafficking, which seized half a dozen significant quantities of captagon between 2022 and 2024.
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