From shifting regional dynamics to a desire to end a refugee crisis, several factors have contributed to Syria and President Bashar al-Assad’s return to the Arab fold.
But also a narcotics is increasingly taking center stage. Syria is by far the world’s largest producer of Captagon, an addictive amphetamine-type stimulant pill that is smuggled to countries across the region.
Captagon was the brand name of a psychoactive drug produced in Germany in the 1960s and later banned worldwide.
It now fuels the party scenes in the Middle East, but for years it has also provided a crucial financial lifeline to al-Assad, who has become increasingly isolated after events that led to civil war in Syria more than a decade ago.
Al-Assad, of course, denies any organized effort by his government to profit from the drug, but observers say he has turned Syria into a narco-state, making billions of dollars a year from a company believed to be worth several times that. of all the operations of the notorious cartels in Mexico.
It came as no surprise that the Syrian president did not publicly discuss the drug trade when he was warmly received Friday in the Saudi port city of Jeddah and took part in the 32nd Arab League summit shortly after his country was readmitted into the regional bloc.
But Amman said Syria has agreed to tackle drug trafficking across its borders with Jordan and Iraq following a meeting of foreign ministers earlier this month to discuss normalizing ties with Damascus.
Days after Jordan warned it is ready to “do whatever it takes to counter the threat” of drug smuggling, an airstrike on Syrian soil killed reputed Syrian drug kingpin Marai al-Ramthan. It is widely believed that Jordan was behind the attack, although it has not been officially confirmed.
Cosmetic attacks
According to Caroline Rose, a Captagon researcher and director of the US-based New Lines Institute, the drug trade was not what prompted Saudi-led normalization efforts with Syria, but has become a top agenda because it is a viable point of cooperation.
“The Syrian regime has already carried out a number of cosmetic seizures to essentially build goodwill with a number of Arab governments. They want to be seen as a country that could ban Captagon if persuaded and incentivized to do so, especially with sanctions relief and economic packages,” she told Al Jazeera.
On the face of it, Rose said she expects an increase in Captagon seizures and increased coverage in the Syrian state-controlled media in an effort to draw attention to Damascus’s efforts to crack down on the drug trade.
“I also think they will list a range of traffickers who are not very close to the regime, but who are seen or mentioned as potential contributors,” she said, adding that she does not believe authorities will hit some of the alleged core supporters . of the trade, especially ones like al-Assad’s cousin, Wasim Badi al-Assad, who was sanctioned by the United States and the European Union last month.
“I also think the regime is very much using this as their own political map in normalization discussions, essentially admitting they have control over the trade and using that as a main tactic to encourage countries to pay them off in exchange for cracking them.”
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Iraq alone have announced multiple seizures since late April, comprising tens of millions of Syrian-made Captagon pills, estimated to have a street value of more than $1 billion.
However, they have not publicly blamed al-Assad’s government after the seizures as normalization efforts have gained momentum.
Using Captagon
According to Joshua Landis, director of the Center of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oklahoma.
“Assad is already using the Captagon trade. It is an important reason for Jordan to conclude that the status quo was not working and unsustainable. The same goes for Saudi Arabia,” he told Al Jazeera.
Landis said that while many believed al-Assad had been “liberated” by the civil war, sanctions, partition of the country and denial of access to Syria’s oil and gas, the Captagon trade shows he should not are ignored. and can inflict damage, allowing him to charge a higher price to curb smuggling.
“For Assad, forgoing drug revenues, Syria’s biggest export, will require the restoration of legitimate trade. He will demand the lifting of the sanctions and the return of his territory,” Landis said.
However, the US and EU have said they will refuse to normalize relations with Syria without a fair election process in accordance with a United Nations resolution. Last week, a bipartisan group in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a bill to prevent normalization.
Meanwhile, Qatar and several other Arab countries in the region remain against Syria’s reintegration without any preconditions, but chose not to block inclusion in the Arab League.
Lina Khatib, director of the SOAS Middle East Institute, sees Syria’s return to the Arab League after a 12-year hiatus as a no-strings-attached victory for al-Assad, at least for now.
“Arab states have little influence over Assad because they have other domestic and regional priorities to address and channel resources to, from economic growth to stability in their immediate vicinity.
“They also cannot count on US support for Assad, as the US has generally lost interest in the Syrian conflict,” she said.
Khatib believes al-Assad is unlikely to give up Captagon.
“Most Arab countries can hope in this regard,” she said, “that those regime elements involved in the Captagon trade could divert some of it to markets outside the Arab world to stem the flow of drugs into Arab countries. Reduce. .”