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Italy Seizes Billion-Dollar Captagon Pills Smuggled by Hezbollah

Photo published by several news websites shows the Italian authorities seizing the drugs
Photo published by several news websites shows the Italian authorities seizing the drugs
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Italy Seizes Billion-Dollar Captagon Pills Smuggled by Hezbollah

Photo published by several news websites shows the Italian authorities seizing the drugs
Photo published by several news websites shows the Italian authorities seizing the drugs

Italy revealed Friday that nearly 15 tons of smuggled Captagon amphetamine pills seized last year by the authorities, appeared to have originated from Lebanon’s Hezbollah not ISIS, according to the Italian Nova news agency.

Investigations run by a Naples prosecutor said the financial value of the confiscated drugs amounted to about one billion dollars.

The drugs were hidden inside three suspicious containers that included papers intended for industrial use.

Italian authorities previously believed that ISIS was behind the drug smuggling operation.

However, investigations showed that the Syrian regime and Hezbollah were behind it.

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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said his administration would announce the new structure of the defense ministry and military within days.

In a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday, al-Sharaa said that his administration would not allow for arms outside the control of the state.

An official source told Reuters on Saturday that Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency that toppled Bashar al-Assad two weeks ago, had been named as defense minister in the interim government.
Sharaa did not mention the appointment of a new defense minister on Sunday.
Sharaa discussed the form military institutions would take during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA said.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said last week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former opposition factions and officers who defected from Assad's army.

Earlier Sunday, Lebanon’s Druze leader Walid Jumblatt held talks with al-Sharaa in Damascus.

Jumblatt expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he added.