US outlines strategy to counter Syria's lucrative Captagon trade

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has submitted a comprehensive report to US lawmakers detailing its interagency plan to disrupt Syria’s trade of the illegal amphetamine Captagon.

Syria's production and smuggling of the highly addictive drug has spawned a multi-billion industry, creating an alternate source of revenue for a regime battered by more than a decade of Western sanctions and a devastating war that’s killed more than half a million people.  

Congress in its annual defense policy bill required the administration to submit a written strategy to “deny, degrade, and dismantle” the Syrian regime's trafficking of Captagon, which has become the country's top export, driving much of the Arab region’s recent overtures to President Bashar al-Assad.

Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.), who sponsored the original legislation requiring an interagency plan, told Al-Monitor he was pleased to see the administration release its strategy. 

“Now that the administration has clearly outlined their strategy in their report to Congress, I look forward to reviewing their next step in how it will be implemented and enhanced in practice,” Hill said. 

The unclassified version of the report published Thursday said the US military has “limited ability” to curtail drug production from within Syria and is instead focusing on “the narcotics distribution infrastructure outside of Syria that benefits the Assad regime.” Part of that strategy involves supporting law enforcement in affected countries, such as Jordan and Lebanon, as well as offering rewards for information leading to the arrest of Captagon traffickers. 

The illegal amphetamine, first developed in Germany in the 1960s to treat narcolepsy before its manufacture was banned in most countries by 1986, is today popular in the region as a recreational drug. Fighters from the Islamic State and other jihadist groups have also used Captagon to stay alert on the front lines. 

Just over a week ago, narcotics authorities in Oman seized 6 million of the tiny white pills, and in May, Saudi authorities in Jeddah seized more than 12.7 million tablets of amphetamines hidden in a shipment of pomegranates. 

The Gulf region, particularly Saudi Arabia, is the primary destination for Captagon pills, but as the US report notes, the drug is growing in popularity in what were once purely transit countries, such as Jordan and Iraq. 

The New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, a Washington-based think tank, estimates the value of large-scale Captagon seizures amounted to at least $5.7 billion in 2021. An Agence France-Presse investigation, which also accounted for unseized Captagon shipments, put the total closer to $10 billion. 

Analysts say there is considerable evidence that Assad’s associates are involved in the industrial-scale production of Captagon inside Syria. Major players also include Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group and the elite Fourth Armored Division of the Syrian Army, which is commanded by Assad’s younger brother Maher al-Assad. 

In March, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on more than half a dozen figures linked to Syria’s illicit drug industry. The targets included a cousin of the Syrian president who allegedly oversees Captagon facilities in the port city of Latakia, as well as a militia leader linked to drug production in southern Syria. 

The new report cites economic sanctions as one tool to prevent the regime and Hezbollah from using the US financial system to launder proceeds. US officials will also raise the issue in the United Nations and other international bodies “to reiterate the United States’ belief that the Assad regime has not done anything to deserve normalization or reconstruction in regime-held areas of Syria," the report said. 

The US initiative comes as Arab states are rekindling ties with the Syrian government in hopes of winning modest concessions from Assad, including creating safe conditions for refugee returns, reducing Iran's influence in Syria and halting the flow of Captagon. 

Caroline Rose, an expert on Captagon at the New Lines Institute, said the regime has no incentive to seriously crack down on Captagon production, although it could offer up some smaller fish involved in the trade, such as southern smuggling networks that are not as closely aligned with the regime. 

The Arab League voted in May to reinstate Syria, which was suspended from the regional bloc in 2011 following its violent crackdown on the country’s pro-democracy uprising. In a symbolic victory for Assad shortly after, the long-shunned Syrian leader attended the Arab League’s annual summit in Jeddah. 

In return for normalization, Syria has reportedly pledged to help curb drug trafficking across its borders. But Rose cautioned that the regime can easily manipulate its data, including by redirecting drug flows to other transit and destination countries. 

“How can we really measure if the regime is serious or not about the Captagon trade if they're the ones that are generating the numbers?” Rose said. “They can essentially go to their regional partners a few months from now and say, ‘look, we cracked down on the Captagon trade. ... We had a 50% uptick in seizures and arrests. That shows that we're serious. Let's get to the next stage of normalization.’” 

The Biden administration, which says it has no plans to normalize Assad or lift sanctions, has also expressed skepticism that the Syrian leader is willing to make meaningful concessions on Captagon or other issues.

“I have to admit we are skeptical of Assad’s willingness to take the necessary steps,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Al-Monitor in Jeddah in June. 

“But we’re aligned with our partners here on what those steps are and on the ultimate objectives," he said. "We’ll see if we can achieve some progress.”

As the region calls for easing Western sanctions on Syria, some US lawmakers are looking to ramp up pressure on the regime. Bipartisan legislation making its way through the House of Representatives would step up sanctions on the Syrian government and require the Biden administration produce a report on its counter-normalization strategy.