The Houthis Are Breaking into the Drug Trade

Excerpt

The ouster of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria left a void in the regional narcotics trade. But the exile of the king of captagon has not led to the end of the drug itself, nor its manufacture, or supply. And certainly not the demand. 

It is an opportunity that Yemen’s Houthis—never ones to pass on a profitable scheme—are eager to exploit. The group has a long history of growing and selling khat, a stimulant popular in Yemen. Now, the Iran-backed terrorists are moving into the illicit captagon business, which long helped prop up Syria’s former dictator. 

Yemen’s internationally recognized government recently seized 1.5 million captagon pills en route to Saudi Arabia from Houthi-controlled territory. Prices in Saudi Arabia reportedly range from $6 to $27 a pill for the amphetamine-like drug. Busts continued throughout July, with Yemeni authorities intercepting tens of thousands more pills in multiple operations. 

As captagon labs have become less ubiquitous in Syria, the Houthis are producing the drug in Yemen themselves. Yemen’s long and relatively porous border with Saudi Arabia gives the Houthis access to a large consumer market for captagon and other drugs. The Houthis can use the proceeds from these sales to acquire missiles and other munitions to hurl at Israel and its allies, US outposts included. 

Natalie Ecanow is a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Follow Natalie on X: @NatalieEcanow. Bridget Toomey is a research analyst at FDD. and Bridget on X: @BridgetKToomey.