Additionally, some of the Syrian regime's closest partners on the ground, Hezbollah and IRGC-aligned militias, have stood up small-scale parallel trafficking and production operations in the Bekaa Valley and have supported Fourth Division trafficking efforts in the south, either arming smugglers, facilitating shipments through routes, or providing access to different ports outside of Syria.
In the last few years, the Captagon trade has grown drastically in both size, value, and geographic scope. Once largely confined to production sites in the Levant and destination markets in the Arab Gulf, the trade has carved out new transit sites as traffickers seek to identify new, creative ways to reach Gulf consumer markets.
A handout picture released by the Iraqi border authority on March 11, 2023, shows captagon pills seized by the Iraqis at the al-Qaim border crossing between Syria and Iraq.
Alarm bells
Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Turkey have rung alarm bells over increased frequency of Captagon seizures, as well as evidence of rising consumption amongst local communities. The variety and price of Captagon pills have also begun to vary drastically, with new variants — usually signified by colour and street name — that have different potencies, cutting agents, and prices depending on the potency of amphetamine within the pill.
Still, the trade has continued to explode in value, with less qualitative pills close to production sites priced around a few dollars to more qualitative pills, closer to richer consumption markets in the Arab Gulf, and with higher concentrations of amphetamine priced up to $15 per pill.
In the last three years, various investigations and reports from research centres have estimated the trade's value — largely accounting for just what has been seized by law enforcement — has expanded from $3.47 billion in 2020, $5.7 billion in 2021, to $10 billion in 2022.
A Jan. 1, 2021, raid on a captagon laboratory in Boudai, Lebanon, by a Lebanese intelligence patrol resulted in several arrests and seizures of tablets and production equipment.
While the Captagon trade's illicit network is widespread — with many intermediaries, smugglers, dealers, manufacturers, and other actors implicated across the region — the estimated value of the trade is notable, exponentially larger than Syria's licit exports.
The massive source of revenue for industrial-level producers in Syria, combined with mounting evidence of involvement in the trade amongst regime-aligned actors, have flagged concern from Western governments.
These malign actors' use of Captagon as not only a revenue source, but a lucrative, profiting avenue to undercut the effects of US, UK, and EU sanctions, has drawn increased attention from Washington and its partners over the years, mounting calls for a pivot in its strategy on Syria to include a strong counter-Captagon dimension.
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The Captagon trade flew under the radar of the US and its partners for years, lacking any robust inter-agency process to monitor the trade and implement effective policies to curb its influence in the region.
Recent investigative works, analytical assessments, and mounting evidence on the Captagon trade's strong nexus with state and non-state malign actors in the region have compelled the US and its partners to take action, with concerns about the trade's negative effects on public health and human security.
Officers of the Directorate of Narcotics Control of Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry sort through tablets of captagon (Fenethylline) seized during a special operation, Jeddah on March 1, 2022.
Recent counter-Captagon push
However, a key geopolitical driver has also pushed the US and UK to advance a robust counter-Captagon strategy in recent weeks. The destructive earthquake and resulting humanitarian disaster in southern Turkey and northern Syria has opened the floodgates for normalisation efforts between the Syrian regime and many of its regional neighbours, including Jordan, the UAE, Oman, and even Saudi Arabia.
As al-Assad has made his series of visits to regional capitals, engaged in phone calls with leaders, and has leveraged the Captagon trade as a top agenda-item in on the normalisation discussions, the US and its partners have watched with concern, seeking to turn the tide of rapprochement it considers premature and ill-advised.
Read more: Escalation in Syria comes amid regional détente
The US and the UK have, therefore, sought to raise the profile of the Captagon challenge with regional partners heavily considering normalisation efforts, showcasing evidence of illicit participation amongst regime and Iran-aligned actors.
The announced sanctions are no doubt a warning that Washington and London are from changing their policy on isolating the al-Assad regime, let alone removing any punitive measures on Syrian officials and allies.
Both countries seek to use these sanctions as a message to regional partners that they will not accept normalisation with Syria and are committed to continued economic and political isolation of the al-Assad regime.
Captagon tablets seized by Romanian police in August 2020 at the Port of Constanta.
New moment in transatlantic cooperation
The joint US-UK designated sanctions decision marks a new moment in joint transatlantic efforts on the Captagon trade. It indicates that the US and UK are perceiving the Captagon trade as a key threat to regional stability, human security, health, and shared geopolitical interests in the Middle East, Mediterranean, and North Africa.
The inclusion of Lebanese and Syrian individuals on each countries' sanctions list also indicates that both governments do not see the Captagon trade as a Syria-specific challenge, but a cross-border, transnational illicit economy that deserves greater inter-agency coordination and attention.
It's likely that this is the first of many US-led initiatives to increase monitoring, accountability, and policy action against the main drivers behind the Captagon trade affiliated with the Syrian regime and its Iran-aligned proxies, as the US seeks to dissuade regional normalisation efforts and showcase new avenues of leadership and engagement in the region.
April 10, 2022, fighters affiliated with Syria's "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" (HTS) rebel-group display drugs previously seized at a checkpoint they control in Daret Ezza, in the western countryside of the northern Aleppo province.
A security officer displays confiscated captagon pills that were hidden in 7 tons of tea boxes to be smuggled, at the ministry building in Beirut, Lebanon on January 25, 2022.
