Hezbollah’s Legacy in Syria: Drug Labs, Counterfeit Money Factories

Syrian border security forces patrol a border area in Wadi al-Hourani, Hawik village, near the Lebanese border (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Syrian border security forces patrol a border area in Wadi al-Hourani, Hawik village, near the Lebanese border (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Hezbollah’s Legacy in Syria: Drug Labs, Counterfeit Money Factories

Syrian border security forces patrol a border area in Wadi al-Hourani, Hawik village, near the Lebanese border (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Syrian border security forces patrol a border area in Wadi al-Hourani, Hawik village, near the Lebanese border (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Syrian border security forces have discovered dozens of factories producing narcotics, Captagon pills, hashish, and counterfeit US dollars in abandoned warehouses on a hilltop in Al Qusayr’s village of Hawik, near the western countryside of Homs, close to the Syrian-Lebanese border.

The illicit goods were intended for smuggling into neighboring countries and beyond, authorities said.

The border area, facing Lebanon’s Baalbek province, was until recently under the control of Hezbollah. Following the group’s expulsion, Syrian security forces dismantled the drug operations, paving the way for the Lebanese army to secure the region, according to officials.

In a makeshift drug lab perched on a remote hill along a secondary road in Hawik—just a few hundred meters from the Lebanese border—Syrian security forces found stockpiles of equipment and materials used in drug production.

Inside the warehouses, they uncovered industrial machinery, large blue storage tanks filled with raw substances for Captagon production, as well as wooden containers and sealed plastic boxes containing hashish.

Homs border security chief Maj. Nadim Mdakhneh told Asharq Al-Awsat that the previous regime and Hezbollah had turned the area into a drug smuggling route and a hub for illegal drug production, weapons trafficking, and counterfeiting before being expelled this month.

Syrian military operations forces launched a sweeping security campaign this week, targeting villages near the Lebanese border, including Hawik, Jarmash, Wadi al-Hourani, Akoum, and Wadi Hanna.

Clashes erupted with Hezbollah fighters, remnants of the ousted regime, and drug and arms traffickers.

The forces seized full control of the border strip, set up checkpoints, and implemented strict measures to prevent smuggling, officials said.

The crackdown included raids in several Syrian villages, particularly Hawik, Jarmash, and Hit—key hubs for drug trafficking.

Mdakhneh said security forces discovered around 15 drug production facilities and a counterfeit currency printing press.

“We seized massive shipments of weapons, drugs, and raw materials intended for smuggling,” Mdakhneh said. “These areas were the economic lifeline of these criminal networks.”

Syria and Lebanon share a 330-kilometer border, much of it unmarked and stretching across valleys and rugged mountains—terrain long exploited by drug smugglers and arms dealers.

Counterfeit Money Operation

In a third warehouse, Hezbollah operatives set up a counterfeit money operation, producing fake $100 bills using advanced printers, holograms, ultraviolet scanners, and an offset printing press, security officials said.

During Syria’s war, the country became the region’s top producer of Captagon, especially under ousted President Bashar al-Assad. Some reports have called Syria a “narco-state,” with British data estimating it produced nearly 80% of the world’s Captagon supply by the end of last year.

In another warehouse hidden in a mountainous area, a security officer opened a device and found round drug tablets inside.

“This is how they made and hid the drugs before smuggling them to the Gulf and beyond,” said security officer Nader Abu al-Bara, who took part in the raid.

Captagon Pills, Hashish Stored in Packages

Captagon pills were packed in sealed bags. Hashish was stored in medium-sized wooden crates and plastic containers, while processed batches were wrapped in red gloves for identification, security officials said.

Residents of the border region said civilians were strictly prohibited from approaching the heavily guarded drug production sites.

“No one was allowed near these facilities,” said Ahmad al-Saab, 55, a resident of Hawik. “Syrian intelligence and Hezbollah fighters stationed in the area kept us away. We often smelled strange, unpleasant odors, but we had no idea what was happening inside. We only heard rumors about factories, but no one dared to get close.”

Security forces discovered surveillance cameras and network lines connected to Lebanese territory during their operations, officials said.

Mdakhneh stressed that the crackdown was limited to Syrian villages near the Lebanese border.

He said coordination between Syrian military operations and the Lebanese army is ongoing, adding that “for the first time in 14 years, the Lebanese army has begun deploying in this area.”

Mdakhneh said clashes erupted with Hezbollah fighters and traffickers, and during the raids, security forces found documents linking members of Lebanese tribal families to the smuggling operations.

The trade in Captagon pills in Syria was worth an estimated $6 billion by the end of 2024, according to United Nations figures. The drugs were primarily smuggled to neighboring Iraq and Jordan before being trafficked onward to Gulf states.



Proposal of Merging Hezbollah Fighters with Lebanese Army Collides with Reality

Hezbollah fighters carry the coffin of former Secretary-General Hashem Safieddine during his funeral on February 24, 2025. (AP)
Hezbollah fighters carry the coffin of former Secretary-General Hashem Safieddine during his funeral on February 24, 2025. (AP)
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Proposal of Merging Hezbollah Fighters with Lebanese Army Collides with Reality

Hezbollah fighters carry the coffin of former Secretary-General Hashem Safieddine during his funeral on February 24, 2025. (AP)
Hezbollah fighters carry the coffin of former Secretary-General Hashem Safieddine during his funeral on February 24, 2025. (AP)

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s proposal for Hezbollah fighters to be merged with the army has been met with skepticism and provided fodder for political debate.

Aoun had suggested that the members be merged into the military the same way militia members, who were active during the 1975-90 civil war, were merged into the army.

The proposal has not been widely welcomed given the army’s inability to accommodate so many new members for various reasons. Experts who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat dismissed the proposal as a “consolation prize for Hezbollah in exchange for it to lay down its weapons to the state.”

They stressed that it would be impossible for members of an ideological group, who have received ideological training, to be part of the army.

Aoun, the former commander of the army, said it wouldn’t be possible to form a new military unit for the Hezbollah members, so they should instead join the army and sit for training, similar to the training former militants sat for at the end of the civil war.

Member of the Lebanese Forces’ parliamentary bloc MP Ghayath Yazbeck said the army simply cannot accommodate 100,000 Hezbollah fighters.

“Even if Hezbollah had 25,000 fighters, it would be impossible to merge them into the army, whose wages are being paid through foreign assistance,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Moreover, Lebanon needs a national defense strategy that should be drafted by the military with the president and government, he went on to say. The strategy does not stipulate how many members of the army and security forces are needed to protect Lebanon.

“Once the borders are demarcated and the reasons for the war are removed, we can embark on a political solution in Lebanon and ultimately, the current number of officers and soldiers will be enough,” Yazbeck said.

Former Lebanese officer and expert in security and military affairs Khaled Hamadeh said Aoun is trying to appease Hezbollah with his proposal and persuade it to lay down its arms in line with the ceasefire agreement.

The agreement was negotiated with Hezbollah ally parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, so it has the party’s approval.

There are several obstacles to Hezbollah members being merged into the army, Hamadeh said.

“Yes, the Lebanese state had succeeded in stopping the civil war and making hundreds of militia fighters join the army and security forces. But we cannot compare that situation to the one we now have with Hezbollah,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

At the end of the civil war, militias leaders signed and recognized the national pact and announced the dissolution of the militias. They then voluntarily handed over their arms to the state and became part of the political process, he explained.

Today, Iran-backed Hezbollah does not acknowledge the ceasefire agreement and has not agreed to turn over its weapons, he noted. The party does not even recognize that it is part of the political process and that its military wing has been destroyed by Israel, so the idea of merging with the army is “out of place.”

Yazbeck also noted Hezbollah’s ideology, saying it was the “greatest obstacle to its fighters’ merging with the army.”

“The party views Lebanon as a geographic extension of Iran. This ideology still stands, and was demonstrated with Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem’s declaration that the party will not disarm and that it is not concerned with talk about the state’s monopoly over arms,” he added.

Hamadeh echoed these remarks, saying that the civil war militias were Lebanese and took their orders from their Lebanese leaders. They chose to lay down their weapons and abide by Lebanese laws and the country's constitution.

As for Hezbollah, its takes orders from Iran and “has played dangerous military or security roles inside Lebanon and beyond,” he continued.

“Hezbollah has not declared its disengagement from Tehran. It has not declared that it will transform itself into a local political party and that it will dissolve its military wing. Once it does so, then we can talk about accommodating its fighters in the military,” stressed Hamadeh.

“How can we reconcile between a military group that follows the Wilayet al-Faqih ideology (...) and another that works under the constitution and according to democratic mechanisms?” he wondered.

Moreover, he asked: “Was the experience of merging the militias into the state’s civil and security agencies so successful that we should even be repeating it?”

Yazbeck noted that civil war militants were not really merged with the army as some would like to claim.

He explained that those who joined the security and military institutions were in a fact close to the Syrian regime, which was controlling Lebanon at the time.

“The fighters who were fighting for state sovereignty and who confronted Syrian occupation were persecuted and thrown in jail, so many were forced to flee Lebanon,” he revealed.

Furthermore, the level of discipline showed by the army does not apply to Hezbollah fighters. “Militias simply do not gel with army and the army does not gel with them either,” he stated.

Ultimately, said Hamadeh, whatever happens, Hezbollah must first hand over its weapons to the state. “Only then can its members choose to sit for assessments to enter state administrations – placing them on equal footing as other Lebanese citizens,” he added.

Hezbollah members are not isolated from society, and they must be merged, however, proposing their merger in an attempt to persuade them to lay down their arms will ultimately fail, he said.

Above all else, the party must first recognize the state and its right to monopoly over arms and decisions of war and peace, he urged.