Fall of Assad's regime collapsed region's top drug production
The Wall Street Journal
The fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria has led to the collapse of the Middle East's most profitable drug production network, News.az reports citing Gazeta.Ru.
According to the publication, Captagon, a methamphetamine-like drug produced in Syria, has helped the Assad regime amass a huge fortune and offset the effects of sanctions imposed on his country. However, it has also become a source of international tension between Syria and its neighbors.
The journalists write that the production of drugs in small labs across the Syrian Arab Republic, despite official denials from Damascus, has long been known, but the size of the recently discovered facilities by the opposition demonstrates the staggering scale of the trade at all levels of the regime.
An expert on the Captagon trade at the Washington-based think tank New Lines Institute (NLI), Caroline Rose, noted that the drug production proves that the Assad regime was systematically involved in the production and trade of Captagon, with huge sums of money invested in it.
NLI estimates the annual Captagon trade at around $10 billion, which is almost equal to the cocaine market in Europe.
On December 8, the command of the Free Syrian Army, supported by the US and Turkey, announced that Bashar al-Assad's rule was "over." The Russian Foreign Ministry reported that Assad had decided to step down as head of state and left Syria, "giving instructions to transfer power peacefully." Later, a TASS source in the Kremlin reported that Assad and his family had arrived in Moscow, and Russia had granted them asylum "for humanitarian reasons."
According to the publication, Captagon, a methamphetamine-like drug produced in Syria, has helped the Assad regime amass a huge fortune and offset the effects of sanctions imposed on his country. However, it has also become a source of international tension between Syria and its neighbors.
The journalists write that the production of drugs in small labs across the Syrian Arab Republic, despite official denials from Damascus, has long been known, but the size of the recently discovered facilities by the opposition demonstrates the staggering scale of the trade at all levels of the regime.
An expert on the Captagon trade at the Washington-based think tank New Lines Institute (NLI), Caroline Rose, noted that the drug production proves that the Assad regime was systematically involved in the production and trade of Captagon, with huge sums of money invested in it.
NLI estimates the annual Captagon trade at around $10 billion, which is almost equal to the cocaine market in Europe.
On December 8, the command of the Free Syrian Army, supported by the US and Turkey, announced that Bashar al-Assad's rule was "over." The Russian Foreign Ministry reported that Assad had decided to step down as head of state and left Syria, "giving instructions to transfer power peacefully." Later, a TASS source in the Kremlin reported that Assad and his family had arrived in Moscow, and Russia had granted them asylum "for humanitarian reasons."
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