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Syria Defense Minister Rejects Kurdish Proposal to Remain Distinct Military Bloc

Fighters from the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army faction ride in a "technical" pickup truck at a position near the Tishrin Dam in the vicinity of Manbij, in the east of Syria's northern Aleppo province, on January 10, 2025 amidst ongoing battles with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (Photo by AAREF WATAD / AFP)
Fighters from the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army faction ride in a "technical" pickup truck at a position near the Tishrin Dam in the vicinity of Manbij, in the east of Syria's northern Aleppo province, on January 10, 2025 amidst ongoing battles with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (Photo by AAREF WATAD / AFP)
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Syria Defense Minister Rejects Kurdish Proposal to Remain Distinct Military Bloc

Fighters from the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army faction ride in a "technical" pickup truck at a position near the Tishrin Dam in the vicinity of Manbij, in the east of Syria's northern Aleppo province, on January 10, 2025 amidst ongoing battles with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (Photo by AAREF WATAD / AFP)
Fighters from the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army faction ride in a "technical" pickup truck at a position near the Tishrin Dam in the vicinity of Manbij, in the east of Syria's northern Aleppo province, on January 10, 2025 amidst ongoing battles with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (Photo by AAREF WATAD / AFP)

Syria's new defense minister said on Sunday it would not be right for US-backed Kurdish fighters based in the country's northeast to retain their own bloc within the broader integrated Syrian armed forces.
Speaking to Reuters at the defense ministry in Damascus, Murhaf Abu Qasra said the head of the Kurdish fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, was procrastinating in its handling of the complex issue.

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100 Million Captagon Pills Destroyed in Damascus

Members of the security forces with Syria's new government inspect a warehouse that used to hide pills of Captagon, a brand name of the psychostimulant drug Fenethylline, inside children's toys, hookahs, house doors and plastic insulation, during a raid in Latakia on January 19, 2025. (Photo by AAREF WATAD / AFP)
Members of the security forces with Syria's new government inspect a warehouse that used to hide pills of Captagon, a brand name of the psychostimulant drug Fenethylline, inside children's toys, hookahs, house doors and plastic insulation, during a raid in Latakia on January 19, 2025. (Photo by AAREF WATAD / AFP)
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100 Million Captagon Pills Destroyed in Damascus

Members of the security forces with Syria's new government inspect a warehouse that used to hide pills of Captagon, a brand name of the psychostimulant drug Fenethylline, inside children's toys, hookahs, house doors and plastic insulation, during a raid in Latakia on January 19, 2025. (Photo by AAREF WATAD / AFP)
Members of the security forces with Syria's new government inspect a warehouse that used to hide pills of Captagon, a brand name of the psychostimulant drug Fenethylline, inside children's toys, hookahs, house doors and plastic insulation, during a raid in Latakia on January 19, 2025. (Photo by AAREF WATAD / AFP)

Syrian security forces destroyed seized drugs Sunday including around 100 million pills of the amphetamine-like stimulant captagon -- whose production and trafficking flourished under ousted president Bashar al-Assad, an official told AFP.

“We destroyed large quantities of narcotic pills,” said official Badr Youssef, including “about 100 million captagon pills and 10 to 15 tons of hashish” as well as raw materials used to produce captagon.

He spoke from the Damascus headquarters of the defunct Fourth Division where the drugs were seized. The Fourth Division was controlled by Assad's brother, Maher.

Earlier, the official SANA news agency said: “the anti-narcotics department of the (interior) ministry is destroying narcotic substances seized at the headquarters of the Fourth Division.”

An AFP photographer saw security personnel in a Fourth Division warehouse load dozens of bags filled with pills and other drugs into trucks, before taking them to a field to be burned.

Over the past decade, the regime of Assad, ousted last month by opposition factions, has been accused of being the principal purveyor of Captagon, which flooded markets across the Middle East.

Revenues from Captagon sales sustained the old regime for much of the 13-year conflict. A 2022 AFP investigation found that Syria under Assad had become a narco state, with the $10-billion captagon industry dwarfing all other exports.

On Saturday, SANA reported that authorities had seized “a huge warehouse belonging to the former regime” in the coastal city of Latakia.

It said the factory “specialized in packing captagon pills into children's toys and furniture.”

On Sunday, an AFP photographer visited the warehouse near the port and saw security personnel dismantling children's bicycles that contained the small white pills.

Captagon pills had also been hidden inside objects such as doors, shisha water pipes and car parts, he reported.

Abu Rayyan, a security official in Latakia, said that “about 50 to 60 million captagon pills” had been seized that “belonged to the Fourth Division.”

“This is the largest such warehouse in the area,” he said.

Abu Rayyan said the drugs had been packed for export from Latakia “to neighboring countries,” and that they would be destroyed.