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Damascus Seizes 50,000 Captagon Pills Bound for Saudi Arabia

Captagon dealers arrested in Damascus; pills destined for smuggling to Saudi Arabia (Syrian Interior Ministry)
Captagon dealers arrested in Damascus; pills destined for smuggling to Saudi Arabia (Syrian Interior Ministry)
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Damascus Seizes 50,000 Captagon Pills Bound for Saudi Arabia

Captagon dealers arrested in Damascus; pills destined for smuggling to Saudi Arabia (Syrian Interior Ministry)
Captagon dealers arrested in Damascus; pills destined for smuggling to Saudi Arabia (Syrian Interior Ministry)

Syrian officials have confiscated 50,000 Captagon pills hidden in fabric cushions in Damascus's Al-Qadam district.
The Drug Enforcement Branch of Damascus made the discovery, according to a statement from the Syrian Interior Ministry shared on social media.
The pills were meant to be smuggled into Saudi Arabia, the ministry reported.
Three people have been arrested in connection with the case, and they will face legal action after being presented to competent judicial authorities.
Brig. Gen. Sami Darwish reported that one suspect was caught with the drugs and confessed to working with two other accomplices. These accomplices were later arrested in Jaramana and Al-Marja.
Hours before the Captagon seizure, the Damascus Criminal Security Branch arrested members of a network involved in drug trafficking and counterfeit currency.
The Interior Ministry said the arrests followed a thorough investigation and surveillance operation.
In a well-coordinated sting in the Al-Zahira district, three suspects were detained while traveling in a public vehicle.
Authorities seized 41 bundles of hashish and $1,000 in counterfeit bills. The suspects admitted to running a drug trafficking ring and distributing narcotics across provinces with the help of several accomplices who remain at large.
In Damascus’ Keshkoul area, three suspects were arrested with a firearm, Captagon pills, and a motorcycle. Police also found about 7,000 Tramadol pills at their homes. The search for additional suspects is ongoing.
The fight against drug trafficking is a major concern for Arab nations, along with refugee returns and political solutions.
Over the past two years, Syria has prevented several drug smuggling attempts, but the US and Western countries accuse the Syrian government of aiding drug trafficking, which they say threatens regional security.
Damascus has rejected claims of involvement in Captagon production and trafficking, citing its commitment to international drug control agreements, including the 1961 Convention, the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention, and the 1988 UN Convention on Drug Trafficking.

 

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Israel’s Retaliatory Responses to Houthis Must Begin by Drawing Intelligence Plan

A person inspects damage at the site where a projectile fired from Yemen landed in Tel Aviv on December 21, 2024 (EPA)
A person inspects damage at the site where a projectile fired from Yemen landed in Tel Aviv on December 21, 2024 (EPA)
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Israel’s Retaliatory Responses to Houthis Must Begin by Drawing Intelligence Plan

A person inspects damage at the site where a projectile fired from Yemen landed in Tel Aviv on December 21, 2024 (EPA)
A person inspects damage at the site where a projectile fired from Yemen landed in Tel Aviv on December 21, 2024 (EPA)

Israel is considering options to respond to repeated attacks fired from Yemen in the past few days, the latest of which was a Houthi missile strike that injured more than a dozen people in Tel Aviv.
But military experts say Israel should first consider an intelligence plan for confronting the new front after it faced significant difficulties in both defending against and responding to the Houthi attacks.
On Saturday morning, Houthis launched a missile that triggered sirens throughout central Israel at 3:44 am. It was the second attack since Thursday.
Israel's military said the projectile landed in Tel Aviv's southern Jaffa area, adding that attempts to intercept a missile from Yemen failed.
“The incident is still being thoroughly investigated,” the army said, adding that following initial investigations by the Israeli Air Force and Home Front Command, “some of the conclusions have already been implemented, both regarding interception and early warning.”
Israeli military experts say the recent Houthi attacks have revealed serious security gaps in Israel's air defense systems.
“The pressing question now is why none of the other of Israel’s air defense layers managed to intercept the warhead,” wrote Yedioth Ahronoth's Ron Ben-Yishai. “The likely explanation is the late detection and the flat trajectory, which prevented the operation of all available defense apparatus.”
He said these incidents might expose a critical vulnerability in the army’s air defense system protecting Israel’s civilian and military home front.
According to Ben-Yishai, two main reasons might explain Saturday’s interception failure.
The first is that the missile was launched in a “flattened” ballistic trajectory, possibly from an unexpected direction.
As a result, Israeli defenses may not have identified it in time, leading to its late discovery and insufficient time for interceptors to operate.
He said the second, and more likely scenario is that Iran has developed a maneuverable warhead.
Such a warhead separates from the missile during the final third of its trajectory and maneuvers mid-flight—executing pre-programmed course changes—to hit its designated target, he wrote.
And while Israel has launched initial investigations into the failure of Israeli defense systems to intercept the missiles, it is now examining the nature, date and location of its response.
When Houthis launched their first missile attack on Israel last Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned them, saying, “The Houthis will learn the hard way.”
But Israeli political analyst Avi Ashkenazi wrote in the Maariv newspaper that Israel should look at reality with open eyes and say out loud that it cannot deal with the Houthi threat from Yemen, and has failed to face them.
Last Thursday, 14 Israeli Air Force fighter jets, alongside refuelers and spy planes, flew some 2,000 kilometers and dropped over 60 munitions on Houthi “military targets” along Yemen’s western coast and near the capital Sanaa.
The targets included fuel and oil depots, two power stations, and eight tugboats used at the Houthi-controlled ports.
But the Maariv newspaper warned about the increasing involvement of Iran in supporting the Houthi forces.
“Iran has invested more in the Houthis in recent weeks following the collapse of the Shiite axis, making the Houthi movement a leader of this axis,” the newspaper noted.
Underscoring the failures of Israel’s air defense systems, Maariv said the “Arrow” missile defense system, Israel's main line of defense against ballistic missiles, had failed four times in a row to intercept missiles, including three launched from Yemen and one from Lebanon.
Yedioth Ahronoth's Ben-Yishai also warned that the threat posed by maneuvering warheads on Iran's heavy, long-range missiles would become existential for Israel should Iran succeed in developing nuclear warheads for these missiles.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Channel 12 said that in recent months, the Middle East has changed beyond recognition.
The channel said that for the first time in more than half a century, a direct and threat-free air corridor has been opened to Iran through the Middle East. Israel will benefit from this corridor to launch almost daily attacks on the border crossings between Syria and Lebanon, it said.
Channel 12 also reported that according to the Israeli military, the new threat-free corridor will help Israel launch a future attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
“From Israel's perspective, the fall of the Assad regime and the collapse of the Iranian ring of fire are changing the balance of power in the Middle East,” the report added.