Many had hoped the drug trade would stop after Assad's fall, but traffickers have shown resilience. With sustained regional demand and limited job opportunities, the industry isn't going anywhere.
The Kingdom is working with European partners in its war on drugs. But with such stellar profits to be made and such keen demand, it has been an uphill battle.
Its central location has made it a crucial hub. Today, Iraq not only trafficks drugs but produces them, and 60% of its citizens are now users. Unemployment and corruption have fuelled the problem.
Criminal enterprise in the country is not new, but the past decade's unstable landscape has created the perfect conditions for it to flourish. Al Majalla explains how Syria became a drug lord.
A prevalence of cheap drugs, a lack of awareness, and an inability to detect problems at an early stage are just some of the factors that have created a perfect storm
The Middle East and Central Asia have been major opium production centres for millennia but the growing legitimate and illegitimate use of these powerful drugs is also causing big problems
The interception of more than a dozen unmanned aerial vehicles in recent months has shown that smuggling has a highly effective new toy, while the Jordanians have a new security headache
Jordan's swift and tough military action has forced Damascus to address a problem it has long sought to ignore. Meanwhile, sources claim Iranian involvement in weapons smuggling.
There are concerns about Iranian attempts to influence the internal situation in Jordan, either by using its territory for military actions against Israel or by attacking American entities there.
That the Biden administration delivered a strategy for countering the Syrian narco-trade is a welcome development. But absent due pressure on Damascus, the strategy will unlikely have any real effect.
The former US envoy to Damascus tells Al Majalla how to find a path to a lasting settlement and a new place in the Middle East, from his unique perspective and first-hand experience in Assad-era talks
A US federal court has blocked Trump's tariffs and ruled that the president doesn't have unilateral authority to impose them, dealing a major blow to his economic policy
The US-based writer does not hold back in what he pens for American readers, nor is he censored. There is just one word that he is forbidden from using.
As global climate finance falters and US support disappears, the MENA region faces a widening funding gap. Now is the time to create a regional climate finance mechanism.