Lebanon’s Security Forces Face Influx of Syrians at Border Crossings

People make their way as they attempt to cross into Lebanon at the Masnaa border crossing between the Lebanon and Syria, after Syrian opposition forces announced that they have ousted Syria's Bashar al-Assad, December 9, 2024. (Reuters)
People make their way as they attempt to cross into Lebanon at the Masnaa border crossing between the Lebanon and Syria, after Syrian opposition forces announced that they have ousted Syria's Bashar al-Assad, December 9, 2024. (Reuters)
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Lebanon’s Security Forces Face Influx of Syrians at Border Crossings

People make their way as they attempt to cross into Lebanon at the Masnaa border crossing between the Lebanon and Syria, after Syrian opposition forces announced that they have ousted Syria's Bashar al-Assad, December 9, 2024. (Reuters)
People make their way as they attempt to cross into Lebanon at the Masnaa border crossing between the Lebanon and Syria, after Syrian opposition forces announced that they have ousted Syria's Bashar al-Assad, December 9, 2024. (Reuters)

Lebanese General Security said Monday that there has been a surge of Syrian people attempting to cross into Lebanon, facilitated by the absence of Syrian authorities at the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing.

Following the ousting of former Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, thousands of Syrians have returned to their homeland, many for the first time in years. However, many are also attempting to leave Syria, driven by growing uncertainty about how the political situation will unfold.

The Lebanese General Security said in a statement that some Syrians had tried to bypass legal entry requirements and make their way into Lebanon at the Masnaa border crossing in eastern Lebanon.

That prompted a joint response by Lebanese security forces.

“In cooperation with the army and internal security forces, the General Security regulated the situation and returned (Syrians) to Syrian territory, allowing only those meeting legal entry criteria to proceed,” the statement added.



Iraq Seizes More than One Ton of Captagon Pills Shipped from Syria

Pills, which according to fighters loyal to the new ruling Syrian body are captagon, lay scattered next to a container, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria December 12, 2024. (Reuters)
Pills, which according to fighters loyal to the new ruling Syrian body are captagon, lay scattered next to a container, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria December 12, 2024. (Reuters)
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Iraq Seizes More than One Ton of Captagon Pills Shipped from Syria

Pills, which according to fighters loyal to the new ruling Syrian body are captagon, lay scattered next to a container, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria December 12, 2024. (Reuters)
Pills, which according to fighters loyal to the new ruling Syrian body are captagon, lay scattered next to a container, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria December 12, 2024. (Reuters)

Iraq's security forces have seized an estimated 1.1 ton of captagon pills hidden inside a truck that entered Iraq from Syria via Türkiye, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

The drug shipment, the largest ever seized in Iraq, was tracked and intercepted with the assistance of "important information" provided by Saudi's drug enforcement agency, the Interior Ministry spokesperson Brigadier Muqdad Meri said in a televised statement.

Western anti-narcotics officials say the addictive, amphetamine-type stimulant known as captagon has for years been mass-produced in Syria.

Captagon - a mix of amphetamines also known as the "poor man’s cocaine" - is one of the more popular recreational drugs in the Middle East.