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☆ Hamas militants were high on 'poor man's cocaine' during the October 7 terrorist attacks, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Hamas militants were high on Captagon pills during the October 7 terrorist attacks, reports say. AdvertisementAdvertisementCaptagon pills fueled Hamas militants during the October 7 terrorist attacks, Israel's Channel 12 News reported. The drug, which is also known as "poor man's cocaine," is a highly addictive, synthetic stimulant that is widely consumed across the Middle East. On board, authorities discovered more than $100 million worth of cannabis and Captagon pills that had been hidden among sawdust, coffee, and spices. In 2021, data on seizures in the region valued the Captagon trade at $5.7 billion, per the FDD.

Persons: —, Bashar Assad's, Natalie Ecanow, Assad, Ecanow, captagon, David Adesnik, Bashar Assad, SANA, Maher Al Organizations: Militant, Service, IDF, West Bank, The, United, Hezbollah, Islamic State, American Chemical Society, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Arab, Research, Fourth Division Locations: Gaza, Israel, West Germany, Gulf, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Jordan, Latakia, Libya, Crete, Salerno, Naples, Italy, Syria's

☆ Syria’s drug problem casts shadow over Assad’s rehabilitation
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-29 | by ( Nadeen Ebrahim | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Jordan was one of the biggest proponents of its rehabilitation, being one of the main victims of Syria’s drug trade, but it feels now that the regime is either unwilling or unable to clamp down on the trade. He blamed the lack of progress on normalization with Arab nations on the incompetence of Arab politics. Gulf states and Jordan routinely report drug busts, with massive amounts of the drug found in everything from building panels to baklava shipments. Assad may not have found a powerful enough incentive to give up his lucrative drug trade. Arab states may now find themselves backed into a corner.

Persons: Bashar al, Assad, Ayman al, Assad’s, Jordan, “ Jordan, “ Bashar, al, Jordan …, disgruntlement, Hossam Zaki, “, ” Zaki, Emile Hokayem, it’s, ” Hokayem, isn’t, ”, he’d, ” Hellyer, Safadi Organizations: CNN, Jordanian, Arab League, Al, Awsat, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Sky News, Hellyer, Carnegie Endowment, International, United Arab Locations: Syrian, Syria, Jordan, Captagon, Saudi, Damascus, London, United Arab Emirates

☆ Dubai police seize over $1 billion of captagon drug smuggled inside furniture
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Celine Alkhaldi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

A surveillance video shared by the interior ministry on Thursday shows the suspects attempting to bring the captagon tablets through Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port. UAE authorities have seized hundreds of thousands of captagon pills since 2019. Captagon was originally the brand name for a medicinal product containing the synthetic stimulant fenethylline. Experts say the vast majority of global captagon production occurs in Syria, with the Gulf region being its primary destination. Last year, the US introduced the 2022 US Captagon Act, which linked the trade to the Syrian regime and called it a “transnational security threat.”

Persons: Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Captagon, ” Organizations: Abu Dhabi CNN, United, United Arab Emirates, country’s Ministry of Interior, Dubai Police, ”, Twitter, Customs, European Monitoring Centre, Drugs, Addiction, US Locations: Abu Dhabi, United Arab, UAE, Jebel Ali Port, Abu, Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The United Nations special envoy for Syria Sunday urged donors not to reduce their funding as the war-torn country's economic crisis spirals. Political Cartoons View All 1148 ImagesWith international donor support dwindling, U.N. agencies have been cutting programs due to budget cuts for years. “We cannot accept that funding for Syria is going down while the humanitarian needs are increasing,” Pedersen said. “For Syria without addressing the political consequences of this crisis, the deep economic crisis and humanitarian suffering will also continue,” Pedersen said. Meanwhile, Russia and Iran have tried to push Syria and Turkey to rekindle ties, the latter backing opposition groups in northwestern Syria.

Persons: Bashar Assad’s, Assad, Geir Pedersen, Faisal Mekdad, ” Pedersen, —, Pedersen, — Chehayeb Organizations: United Nations, Syria Sunday, Syrian Foreign, Arab League Locations: DAMASCUS, Syria, Sweida, Daraa, Russia, Iran, Damascus, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Turkey, Beirut, Lebanon

☆ Jordanian army downs drone from Syria carrying meth - state news agency
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIRUT, Aug 13 (Reuters) - The Jordanian military on Sunday downed a drone carrying crystal meth that was flying into Jordanian territory from neighbouring Syria, the state news agency Petra reported. Citing a source within the Jordanian armed forces, the state agency said in a statement the drone was "taken control of and downed". The Jordanian military has previously downed drones from Syria carrying narcotics or weapons but has rarely identified seized drugs as crystal meth. Military and security officials from Jordan and Syria have met to discuss ways to curb the growing smuggling problem. Despite pledges by Damascus, Jordan says it has not seen any real attempt to clamp down on the illicit trade.

Persons: Petra, Jordan, Bashar al, Assad, Syria's, Maya Gebeily, Ros Russell Organizations: Sunday, Thomson Locations: BEIRUT, Jordanian, Syria, Syrian, Western, Washington, Jordan, Damascus

☆ Iraqi PM Sudani, Syria's Assad hold talks on security, water in Damascus
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Timour Azhari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani review an honor guard in Damascus, Syria July 16, 2023. Syrian Presidency/Handout via REUTERSBAGHDAD, July 16 (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Sunday in the first such visit by an Iraqi premier since the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011. Assad and Sudani discussed securing their shared 600km border from security threats, including Islamic State militants, and agreed to enhance cooperation to reduce drug smuggling, they said during a joint news conference. Sudani said Iraq supported the lifting of sanctions on Syria, put in place and expanded by the U.S. and European countries since 2011. Sudani's visit comes as other countries, including Saudi Arabia, rebuild relations with Damascus after years of tensions.

Persons: Bashar al, Assad, Mohammed Shia Al, Sudani, Farhad Alaaldin, Timour Azhari, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: REUTERS, Iraqi, Islamic State militants, U.S, Islamic, Arab League, Top, European Union, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: Iraqi, Damascus, Syria, Syrian, REUTERS BAGHDAD, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Baghdad, Islamic State, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Jordan, United States, United Kingdom, European

☆ Captagon: the drug fuelling the Gulf party scene - and Syria's finances
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Curbing the captagon trade has become a key demand by Arab states seeking to restore ties with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, whose government is accused of benefiting from the trade. Intelligence sources based in the region say captagon is still produced in small factories along the Syrian-Lebanese border as well as larger ones closer to Syria's frontier with Jordan. The United States, the European Union and Britain have accused the Fourth Division and other Syrian officials of benefitting from the trade, but it is not clear to what extent, if any, it fills state coffers. FUELLING GULF PARTIES, AND ANGEROne of captagon's most lucrative markets is the Gulf region, where party scenes are flourishing, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Intercepted shipments of the drug are typically headed there, including a recent 10 million-pill transfer from Lebanon.

☆ Analysis: Arabs bring Syria's Assad back into fold but want action on drugs trade
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Maya Gebeily | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

While denying any role in the trade, for which Syrian officials and Assad relatives have faced Western sanctions, Damascus has sought leverage from the issue. Hezbollah, which deployed fighters to Syria to aid Assad's war efforts, has denied any role in the drugs trade. Aided by Iran and Russia, Assad steadily beat back his rebel enemies, some of whom had support from U.S.-allied Arab states that have now restored ties. The Syrian source confirmed Riyadh had proposed a sum that would be paid as humanitarian aid, but could not say how much. "I would put ending the captagon trade right at the top alongside the other issues", she said.

☆ Arabs bring Syria's Assad back into fold but want action on drugs trade
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Maya Gebeily | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Hezbollah, which deployed fighters to Syria to aid Assad's war efforts, has denied any role in the drugs trade. Aided by Iran and Russia, Assad steadily beat back his rebel enemies, some of whom had support from U.S.-allied Arab states that have now restored ties. The United States, United Kingdom and European Union have all placed new sanctions on Damascus in recent weeks over captagon. The United States has said it will not normalize ties with Assad and its sanctions remain in full effect. "I would put ending the captagon trade right at the top alongside the other issues", she said.

☆ Jordan strikes Iran-linked drugs factory in southern Syria - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Suleiman Al-Khalidi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The sources said one strike hit an abandoned drug facility in Syria's southern Deraa province linked to the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, which is allied to Syria's government. Ramthan, a major drug dealer in southern Syria, has recruited hundreds of Bedouin transporters who join the ranks of Iran-linked militias that hold sway in southern Syria, Jordanian and regional intelligence sources say. He had been sentenced to death on several occasions in recent years in absentia by Jordanian courts for drugs trafficking, judicial sources say. The incident comes only days after Safadi threatened to strike inside Syria if Damascus would not rein in smuggling. The Iran-linked drug war posed a threat not only to Jordan's national security but also to Gulf countries, Safadi said.

☆ Syria's Assad boosted by return to Arab fold
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Tom Perry | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

[1/3] Syria's President Bashar al-Assad addresses the new members of parliament in Damascus, Syria in this handout released by SANA on August 12, 2020. Now, as Arab states bring him back into the fold, the logic appears to have worked for him once again. In exchange for ending Syria's isolation, Arab states want action, notably towards ending trafficking of the highly-addictive and lucrative amphetamine captagon across Syria's borders towards the Gulf. The threat of a U.S. missile strike was averted when Moscow brokered a deal for Syria's chemical weapons to be destroyed by the following year. But while Assad remained a pariah to the West, Arab states which once backed his opponents began opening doors to him.

☆ Arab ministers discuss how to normalise ties with Syria
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Suleiman Al-Khalidi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

AMMAN, May 1 (Reuters) - A group of Arab foreign ministers held a landmark meeting with their Syrian counterpart in Jordan on Monday to discuss how to normalise ties with Syria as part of a political settlement of the country's more than decade-old conflict, officials said. Jordan has called on Syria to engage with Arab states jointly on a step-by-step roadmap to end the conflict, tackling the issues of refugees, detainees, drug smuggling and Iran-backed militias in Syria - all of which affect its neighbours. Amman has been fighting armed groups smuggling narcotics from Syria, including the highly-addictive amphetamine captagon. Arab states and those most impacted by the conflict are trying to reach consensus on whether to invite Assad to the Arab League summit on May 19 in Riyadh, to discuss the pace of normalising ties with Assad and on what terms Syria could be allowed back. Washington, which said it would not change its policy towards the Syrian government which it terms a "rogue" state, has urged Arab states to get something in return for engaging with Assad.

☆ Saudi Arabia, Syria welcome thaw in ties, agree to fight drug trafficking
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Deputy Minister of Saudi Foreign Ministry, Waleed El Khereiji meets with Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Faisal Mekdad in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, April 12, 2023. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERSRIYADH, April 12 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and Syria's foreign ministers on Wednesday welcomed a thaw in bilateral ties, including steps to resume consular services and flights, and agreed to cooperate to fight drug trafficking and facilitate Syria's return to the Arab fold. Assad, with the help of his main allies Iran and Russia, regained control over much of Syria, and Saudi Arabia has said isolating him was not working. Much of it is thought to be sold to buyers in Gulf Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia. Mekdad's trip to Jeddah came two days before Saudi Arabia hosts another meeting of regional foreign ministers that will discuss Syria's return to the Arab League.

☆ Lebanon has 'no other way out' than IMF deal, U.S. official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Maya Gebeily | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Retired Lebanese army officer holds Lebanese pound banknotes during a protest over the deteriorating economic situation in Beirut, Lebanon March 30, 2023. REUTERS/Emilie MadiBEIRUT, March 30 (Reuters) - Lebanon has no alternative for economic recovery but to make progress on a deal with the International Monetary Fund, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday. Leaf said in an online briefing she had urged Lebanese officials to make progress on the full deal and to end a months-long vacuum in the presidency. Leaf said that talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials in Egypt and Jordan in recent weeks had "very slowly, painstakingly" been moving towards de-escalation. Reporting by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Alex Richardson, Alison Williams and Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. sanctions Syrian leader Assad's cousins, others over drug trade -Treasury
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

It said the trade in captagon was estimated to be a billion-dollar enterprise and the sanctions highlight the role of Lebanese drug traffickers and the Assad family dominance of captagon trafficking, which helped fund the Syrian government. Assad's government denies involvement in drug-making and smuggling and says it is stepping up its campaign to curb the lucrative trade. Also sanctioned were Khalid Qaddour, who the Treasury said was a Syrian businessman and close associate of Bashar al-Assad's brother, the head of the army's Fourth Division. Hassan Daqqou was sentenced in 2021 to seven years in prison in Lebanon on charges of captagon trafficking, according to the same source. Reporting by Doina Chiacu, Daphne Psaledakis and Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; editing by Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Summary Saudi Arabia, Syria cut ties more than a decade agoAgreement on reopening embassies follows Saudi-Iran dealBEIRUT/RIYADH, March 23 (Reuters) - Syria and Saudi Arabia have agreed to reopen their embassies after cutting diplomatic ties more than a decade ago, three sources with knowledge of the matter said, a step that would mark a leap forward in Damascus's return to the Arab fold. Contacts between Riyadh and Damascus had gathered momentum following a landmark agreement to re-establish ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, a key ally of President Bashar al-Assad, a regional source aligned with Damascus said. The decision was the result of talks in Saudi Arabia with a senior Syrian intelligence official, according to one of the regional sources and a diplomat in the Gulf. The United States and several of its regional allies, including Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Qatar, had backed some of the Syrian rebels. But Saudi Arabia has been moving far more cautiously.

Drogurile, cu o înaltă puritate, au o valoare de comercializare pe piaţa neagră de peste 45 milioane euro şi au fost transportate în containere în Portul Constanţa pe cale maritimă. Heroina a fost încărcată în Iran şi avea ca destinaţie state din vestul Europei", a declarat Oana Daniela Pâţu, procuror şef adjunct al DIICOT. Drogurile găsite în Portul Constanţa erau disimulate într-un container în care erau transportate diverse materiale de construcţii. La acţiunile de pe teritoriul statelor vest-europene au participat 3 ofiţeri antidrog din cadrul DCCO, iar în România a fost prezent la percheziţii un analist senior din cadrul EUROPOL. Operaţiunea s-a derulat cu implicarea reprezentanţilor DEA din cadrul Ambasadei SUA, Brigăzii de Combatere a Criminalităţii Organizate Constanţa, Serviciului de Combatere a Criminalităţii Organizate Porturi Maritime, Serviciului pentru Intervenţii şi Acţiuni Speciale şi a specialiştilor din cadrul Direcţiei Generale a Vămilor.

Persons: Oana Daniela, Oana Daniela Pâţu, Eurojust, Operaţiunea Organizations: DIICOT, UE Locations: România, Iran, Europei, României, Ungaria, Austria, Germania, Regatul Ţărilor, Jos, Slovacia, Slovenia, Republica Cehă şi Franţa, percheziţii, SUA, Constanţa

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