US Congress Approves Bill against 'Assad's Captagon Trade'

Seized drugs, including Captagon, are displayed for the media in the town of Marea, in the northern Aleppo countryside, on May 24, 2022, following clashes among different Türkiye-backed factions in Syria. (AFP)
Seized drugs, including Captagon, are displayed for the media in the town of Marea, in the northern Aleppo countryside, on May 24, 2022, following clashes among different Türkiye-backed factions in Syria. (AFP)
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US Congress Approves Bill against 'Assad's Captagon Trade'

Seized drugs, including Captagon, are displayed for the media in the town of Marea, in the northern Aleppo countryside, on May 24, 2022, following clashes among different Türkiye-backed factions in Syria. (AFP)
Seized drugs, including Captagon, are displayed for the media in the town of Marea, in the northern Aleppo countryside, on May 24, 2022, following clashes among different Türkiye-backed factions in Syria. (AFP)

The US Congress approved a draft resolution that lays down a US strategy to stop drug production and trafficking and dismantle networks linked to the Syrian regime and President Bashar al-Assad.  

Lawmakers introduced the bill into the 2023 Department of Defense budget, passed by the Senate last Thursday, with the support of 83 senators and the opposition of 11.  

The bill, introduced by Democrats and Republicans, said that "the Captagon trade linked to the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria is a transnational security threat" and called on President Joe Biden's administration to develop and implement a strategy to "deny, degrade, and dismantle Assad-linked narcotics production and trafficking networks."  

Republican Representative French Hill, who first introduced the bill last year, said: "In addition to regularly committing war crimes against his people, the Assad regime in Syria is now becoming a Narco-State."  

Hill noted that "the current epicenter of the drug trade is in territory controlled by the Assad regime," warning that "Captagon has already reached Europe, and it is only a matter of time until it reaches our shores."  

The Representative also warned that "if we do not work with our like-minded partners to first hinder the narcotics trade and replace it with a working system of institutions that serve the Syrian people, then Assad will add the title ‘Drug Kingpin’ to his recognized global status as a leading mass murderer."  

Senior Analyst and Program Head of the Human Security Unit at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy Caroline Rose stressed the importance of the bill being approved. 

Rose told Asharq Al-Awsat that the approved bill is an important and necessary first step to address the Assad regime's connection to the Captagon trade and the harmful impact on security in the Middle East.  

She noted that after the bill's approval, US agencies needed to collaborate and monitor Captagon trafficking and coordinate with export countries.  

Project details  

The bill demands presenting the required strategy to Congress for review within a period not exceeding 180 days of its approval, provided that the method includes providing support to partner countries of the region that receive large quantities of smuggled Captagon.  

The lawmakers urge the administration to employ the sanctions effectively, including the Caesar Act, to target drug networks affiliated with the regime.  

The strategy includes a public communication campaign to increase awareness of the extent of the connection of the Assad regime to the illicit narcotics trade, a description of the countries receiving or transiting large shipments of Captagon, and an assessment of the counter-narcotics capacity of such countries to interdict of disrupt the smuggling of the Captagon.   

Lawmakers called for the strategy to include a plan for leveraging multilateral institutions and cooperation with international partners to disrupt the narcotics infrastructure of the Assad regime.  

The strategy must include a list of countries that receive large shipments of Captagon, evaluating their capabilities to stop smuggling operations.  

Pressuring the White House 

Congress is increasing pressure on the Biden administration to address the narcotics issue. 

The two top Republicans in the Congressional Foreign Relations Committees called on the White House to submit a detailed report highlighting the Syrian president's role in trafficking, underscoring the repercussions of the issue on regional stability. 

Lead Republican Mike McCaul and Senator Jim Risch sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken warning that Jordan is increasingly threatened by the flow of Captagon across its border and has had several dangerous skirmishes with drug traffickers on its border with Syria.  

The letter warned that Saudi Arabia is also "under assault from flows of Syrian Captagon" and "has been forced to increase security resources for interdiction efforts."  

A group of Democratic and Republican lawmakers had called the US administration last week to include Syria as a "major illicit drug producing countries" or "major drug-transit countries."  

In a letter they wrote to Blinken, the legislators urged the ministry to assess the activities carried out by the regime in the field of drug manufacturing and trafficking to determine its category. 

"In addition to its gross human rights violations and regularly committing war crimes against his own people, the Assad regime in Syria has now become a narco-state. The production and trade of the drug, Captagon, is not only a critical financial lifeline to Assad, but it cripples local populations, serves to undermine families and local communities, and finances Iran-backed groups in the region." 

The lawmakers called on the US government to do all it could to disrupt the industrial drug production in Syria.  

"If we do not act, then we risk permitting the narco-state of Assad to become a permanent fixture in the region," they concluded. 



Israel Says it Will Maintain Control of Gaza-Egypt Crossing

Hamas militants secure aid trucks that arrived the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, days after a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel went into effect. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Hamas militants secure aid trucks that arrived the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, days after a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel went into effect. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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Israel Says it Will Maintain Control of Gaza-Egypt Crossing

Hamas militants secure aid trucks that arrived the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, days after a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel went into effect. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Hamas militants secure aid trucks that arrived the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, days after a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel went into effect. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israel says it will maintain control of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip during the first phase of the ceasefire with Hamas.

A statement issued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu´s office on Wednesday denied reports that the Palestinian Authority would control the crossing.

It said local Palestinians not affiliated with Hamas who had been vetted by Israeli security would merely stamp passports at the crossing. It noted that, under international agreements, this stamp "is the only way Gazans may leave the Strip in order to enter, or be received in, other countries."

According to The AP, the statement said Israeli forces would surround the crossing and that Israel must approve the movement of all people and goods through it. It said European Union monitors would supervise the crossing.

Israel captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing last May, forcing it to shut down. Egypt, a key mediator in more than a year of negotiations that led to the ceasefire, has demanded that Palestinians control the Gaza side.

Meanwhile, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Gaza says trucks from the UN, aid groups, governments and the private sector are arriving and no major looting has been reported -- just a few minor incidents.

Nearly 900 trucks of aid entered Gaza on the third day of the ceasefire Tuesday, the United Nations said. That's significantly higher than the 600 trucks called for in the deal.

Muhannad Hadi, who returned to Jerusalem from Gaza on Tuesday afternoon, told UN reporters by video that it was one of the happiest days of his 35-year humanitarian career to see Palestinians in the streets looking ahead with hope, some heading home and some starting to clean up the roads.

In his talks with families at a communal kitchen run by the UN World Food Program and elsewhere, he said, they all told him they need humanitarian assistance but want to go home, to work and earn money.

"They don´t like the fact that they have been depending on humanitarian aid," Hadi said.

Palestinians talked about resuming education for their children and about the need for shelter, blankets and new clothes for women who have been wearing the same clothes for more than a year. He said a shipment of tents is expected in the coming days.