Concerns about the situation in Syria rise, as the West takes action

27th May 2023 | International

The Council of the European Union sanctions traffickers of Captagon, a drug that funds the Syrian regime and terrorist groups

For years, the illicit trade of captagon, an amphetamine-type stimulant, in the Middle East and Mediterranean has exploited gaps in governance, ongoing conflict, human security, and public health. The trade’s evolution into an industrial-sized industry–estimated to be worth over $10 billion–has been aided by active participation of actors closely aligned with Syria’s Assad regime, Hezbollah, and Iran-aligned militias operating in the Levant. As the trade has targeted demand markets in the Arab Gulf–all while traffickers have tried to carve out new markets in Africa, the Levant, and Europe–the Syrian regime and its Iran-aligned partners have used the trade’s revenues as a lucrative alternative revenue stream to undercut the effects of sanctions.

Until recently, the captagon threat flew well under the radar of governmental institutions, particularly the US, the UK, and the EU. However, in December, 2022, the US passed a landmark bill establishing an interagency counter-captagon strategy, the US’ Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) have jointly designated sanctions on captagon traffickers, and governments are beginning to apply additional pressure on the regime and its partners for involvement in the illicit captagon trade. And now, the European Union has, too, placed sanctions on actors aligned with the Syrian …

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