The Fall of Assad in Syria Is Not the End of Captagon

Six months after the fall of the Assad dictatorship, the situation in Syria remains precarious: some parts of the country are in the throes of war and external occupation, while in others the interim government has initiated a transition. The majority of Syrians continue to live below the poverty line. What role does the production and smuggling of drugs play in these difficult circumstances?

• Under President Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher, Syria became the world’s leading producer of the synthetic drug known as Captagon in 2018. Up to December 2024, Captagon smuggling, especially to the rich Gulf states, was the Assad regime’s main source of income.

• The rapid demise of Assad on 8 December 2024 jolted the dominant drug networks in Syria. The Islamist HTS under interim Syrian president Ahmad al-Shar‘a has declared war on Captagon; laboratories and pill stockpiles were destroyed in a high-profile move. At the same time, there is still great demand for cheap drugs in Syria and neighbouring countries.

• Even before the fall of Assad in 2023/24, the production and smuggling of Captagon had already begun to fragment and transnationalise: as part of Assad’s normalisation policy in the Middle East, production was partially relocated to Iraq and Lebanon, and smuggling routes also multiplied. Initial discoveries of Captagon laboratories, including in Germany, also indicate that the drug has arrived in Europe.

Policy Implications

European policy on Syria should pay more attention to the Captagon problem – in conjunction with its overarching goals of ending war and commencing reconstruction through an inclusive transition. Beyond security policy measures, the Syrian transitional government and the Middle Eastern transit and consumer countries should be offered expertise in drug prevention and addiction support.

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