Syria Says foiled Attempt to Smuggle out 4 million Captagon Tablets

A member of the security forces of the new Syrian authorities shows Captagon pills found in a compound of the ousted president Bashar al-Assad's forces in Damascus on January 7, 2025. (File/AFP)
A member of the security forces of the new Syrian authorities shows Captagon pills found in a compound of the ousted president Bashar al-Assad's forces in Damascus on January 7, 2025. (File/AFP)
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Syria Says foiled Attempt to Smuggle out 4 million Captagon Tablets

A member of the security forces of the new Syrian authorities shows Captagon pills found in a compound of the ousted president Bashar al-Assad's forces in Damascus on January 7, 2025. (File/AFP)
A member of the security forces of the new Syrian authorities shows Captagon pills found in a compound of the ousted president Bashar al-Assad's forces in Damascus on January 7, 2025. (File/AFP)

Syrian authorities on Monday announced that they had thwarted an attempt to smuggle out four million tablets of captagon, an amphetamine-like narcotic that has flooded the region.
The interior ministry said in a statement that authorities seized “over four million captagon tablets that were tightly hidden inside industrial equipment designed for manufacturing flour used for human consumption.”
It said they had acted on “accurate information received from our sources about a shipment of drugs hidden inside industrial equipment prepared for smuggling outside the country.”
Under Assad’s rule, captagon became Syria’s largest export during the civil war that erupted in 2011 and a key source of illicit funding for his government, according to AFP.
Since Assad’s ouster last December, the new authorities have discovered millions of captagon pills in warehouses and on military bases.
The interior ministry said those involved in the latest operation have been “arrested, the equipment containing the drugs has been seized, and the arrested individuals have been referred for investigation based on a decision issued by the public prosecution.”



Houthis in Yemen Say They Won’t End Support for Gaza

 Houthi supporters chant slogans during a weekly anti-US and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
Houthi supporters chant slogans during a weekly anti-US and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
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Houthis in Yemen Say They Won’t End Support for Gaza

 Houthi supporters chant slogans during a weekly anti-US and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
Houthi supporters chant slogans during a weekly anti-US and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)

A top leader of the Iran-backed-Houthi militias in Yemen said they will keep up their support for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip until Israeli “aggression stops, and the siege is lifted.”

“Our operations in support of Gaza will not cease, no matter the sacrifices,” said Mahdi al-Mashat in a statement Wednesday.

The Houthis are the last militant group in Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” that is capable of regularly attacking Israel.

They have been firing long-range missiles at Israel in the months since it resumed the war in Gaza, setting off air raid sirens but generally causing few casualties. They have also been attacking shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.