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Sudani Lays Foundation for Iraq-Iran Railway

A handout picture provided by the Iranian Vice President's Media Office shows Vice President Mohammad Mokhber (L) and Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani laying the foundation stone for the railway connection project at the Shalamja border crossing in Iraq's southern province of Basra Governorate on September 2, 2023. (Iranian Vice-Presidency / AFP)
A handout picture provided by the Iranian Vice President's Media Office shows Vice President Mohammad Mokhber (L) and Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani laying the foundation stone for the railway connection project at the Shalamja border crossing in Iraq's southern province of Basra Governorate on September 2, 2023. (Iranian Vice-Presidency / AFP)
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Sudani Lays Foundation for Iraq-Iran Railway

A handout picture provided by the Iranian Vice President's Media Office shows Vice President Mohammad Mokhber (L) and Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani laying the foundation stone for the railway connection project at the Shalamja border crossing in Iraq's southern province of Basra Governorate on September 2, 2023. (Iranian Vice-Presidency / AFP)
A handout picture provided by the Iranian Vice President's Media Office shows Vice President Mohammad Mokhber (L) and Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani laying the foundation stone for the railway connection project at the Shalamja border crossing in Iraq's southern province of Basra Governorate on September 2, 2023. (Iranian Vice-Presidency / AFP)

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani laid on Saturday the foundation stone of a railway between his country and neighboring Iraq.

A ceremony was held at the Shalamja border crossing with Iran in the southern Basra province in Iraq. Present at the event was Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, underscoring the importance of the occasion.

The establishment will be a milestone in the transport of travelers and visitors of holy sites from Iran and central Asian countries.

Baghdad and Tehran agreed to establish the railway in 2021.

Mokhber told Iranian media that he expects the volume of trade between the neighbors to witness a “massive leap” after the completion of the railway connection between Basra and Shalamja.

He said the project will be complete within the next two years, adding that it consolidates relations between Iraq and Iran.

Sudani has said that the railway will be limited to the transport of travelers, but Mokhber’s remarks revealed that Iran aims to transport goods, a move opposed by Iraqi political circles given its impact on operations at Iraq’s Grand Faw Port.

Iraq is planning to kick off the implementation of the Development Road plan that stretches from Basra, where the port is located, to Iraq’s northern-most point. It would then pass through Türkiye, then Europe. Over a billion dollars have been spent on the project.

An informed source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the railway connection agreement was signed during the term of Iraqi former Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

It stressed that the railway will be restricted to the transport of travelers, not goods.

Moreover, the railway carriages are not designed to carry goods, only passengers, it added.

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Syria Authorities Say Torched 1 Million Captagon Pills

A man throws a bag onto a pile of burning illicit drugs, as Syria's new authorities burn drugs reportedly seized from a security branch, in Damascus on December 25, 2024. (AFP)
A man throws a bag onto a pile of burning illicit drugs, as Syria's new authorities burn drugs reportedly seized from a security branch, in Damascus on December 25, 2024. (AFP)
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Syria Authorities Say Torched 1 Million Captagon Pills

A man throws a bag onto a pile of burning illicit drugs, as Syria's new authorities burn drugs reportedly seized from a security branch, in Damascus on December 25, 2024. (AFP)
A man throws a bag onto a pile of burning illicit drugs, as Syria's new authorities burn drugs reportedly seized from a security branch, in Damascus on December 25, 2024. (AFP)

Syria's new authorities torched a large stockpile of drugs on Wednesday, two security officials told AFP, including one million pills of captagon, whose industrial-scale production flourished under ousted president Bashar al-Assad.

Captagon is a banned amphetamine-like stimulant that became Syria's largest export during the country's more than 13-year civil war, effectively turning it into a narco state under Assad.

"We found a large quantity of captagon, around one million pills," said a balaclava-wearing member of the security forces, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Osama, and whose khaki uniform bore a "public security" patch.

An AFP journalist saw forces pour fuel over and set fire to a cache of cannabis, the painkiller tramadol, and around 50 bags of pink and yellow captagon pills in a security compound formerly belonging to Assad's forces in the capital's Kafr Sousa district.

Captagon has flooded the black market across the region in recent years.

"The security forces of the new government discovered a drug warehouse as they were inspecting the security quarter," said another member of the security forces, who identified himself as Hamza.

Authorities destroyed the stocks of alcohol, cannabis, captagon and hashish in order to "protect Syrian society" and "cut off smuggling routes used by Assad family businesses", he added.

- Manufacturing sites -

Since an opposition alliance toppled Assad on December 8 after a lightning offensive, Syria's new authorities have said massive quantities of captagon have been found in former government sites around the country, including security branches.

AFP journalists in Syria have seen fighters from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group set fire to what they said were stashes of captagon found at facilities once operated by Assad's forces.

Security force member Hamza confirmed Wednesday that "this is not the first initiative of its kind -- the security services, in a number of locations, have found other warehouses... and drug manufacturing sites and destroyed them in the appropriate manner".

Maher al-Assad, a military commander and the brother of Bashar al-Assad, is widely accused of being the power behind the lucrative captagon trade.

Experts believe Syria's former leader used the threat of drug-fueled unrest to put pressure on Arab governments.

Jordan in recent years has cracked down on the smuggling of weapons and drugs including captagon along its 375-kilometer (230-mile) border with Syria.