The first public trial of officials associated with former President Bashar al-Assad’s regime opened in Damascus on April 26. The defendant is Atef Najib, Assad’s cousin and former head of the intelligence...
The Lebanese Army busted a major narcotics factory. On July 13, Lebanese forces raided a facility in Baalbek used to produce the synthetic, amphetamine-like drug captagon. The army dismantled approximately...
On March 6, Syria witnessed the most intense and bloodiest clashes between the new Syrian government and loyalists to dictator Bashar al Assad since the Assad regime’s downfall on December 8. These battles...
Despite its statements vowing to clean up the country, Syria’s new government is unlikely to tackle the profitable narcotics trade.
Narcotraffickers who attempted to flood Jordan with over 27 million illicit captagon pills in 2024 may now be out of business. “When it comes to captagon and drug smuggling, we promise it is over and...
In the wake of Bashar al-Assad’s ouster, footage began circulating that allegedly showed production hubs in Syria for the amphetamine-like drug fenethylline, now commonly known by one of its former brand...
Secretary of State Antony Blinken toured the Middle East this month in an effort to prevent a wider regional war. But while Blinken was there, Jordanian jet fighters struck Iran-backed militias...
Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with League of Arab States Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit at the State Department on July 19. Blinken and Aboul Gheit did not discuss the specifics of their...
The European Union (EU) announced sanctions this week on over a dozen Syrian individuals and entities responsible for “the production and trafficking of narcotics, notably Captagon.” The designations...
The Treasury Department announced sanctions on Tuesday on eight targets for “supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the production or export of Captagon, a dangerous amphetamine.”...
Latest Developments Jordan’s King Abdullah II is asking for U.S. assistance to combat Iran-backed militias from Iraq and Syria involved in an escalating drug war on Jordan’s border and attacking inside...
Jordan and the Abraham Accords
The United Nations released new procurement data last week showing that its agencies spent an additional $11.5 million last year at the Four Seasons Damascus, for a total of $81.6 million since 2014. The...
In a congressionally mandated report issued last week, the State Department made a single passing reference to drug trafficking as a source of wealth for the family of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. The...
Saudi intelligence chief Khalid al-Humaidan reportedly met with his Syrian counterpart in Damascus on Monday, the first meeting of its kind since the war in Syria broke out in 2011. Humaidan’s visit provides...
The Treasury Department imposed sanctions today on Syrian war profiteer Khodr Ali Taher and 11 of his companies – part of the fourth set of designations since the Caesar Act went into effect this past...
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s powerful, ideological military force, is one of the country’s most influential institutions, with major stakes in key sectors of the econ...
In a grim footnote to the ongoing human tragedy in Syria, the country's cultural he...
A number of recent articles make the case that...