Since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, industrial-scale manufacturing facilities of the amphetamine-like stimulant Captagon have been uncovered around the country, which experts say fed a $10 billion annual global trade in the highly addictive drug.

As they pushed towards victory in early December, rebel forces in Syria uncovered the true extent of the Assad regime's worst-kept secret: its involvement in the production and trade of the powerful – and illegal – stimulant, Captagon. Inside a so ...

Assad's regime, opposition fighters in Damascus uncovered large stashes of Captagon, a powerful amphetamine long mass-produced in Syria. Known for its highly addictive properties, Captagon became one of the country's most lucrative illicit exports,

The Captagon trade began industrialising around 2018-2019 as the Assad regime — and other armed groups in Syria -- invested in production facilities, warehouses, and trafficking networks

Captagon trade under the Assad regime generated billions annually for Syria, according to a 2023 study by the nonprofit Observatory of Political and Economic Networks.

The industrial-scale drug lab sat just up a hill from a main road on the western edge of Damascus, the city that was the seat of power for the Assad family which long denied any links to the narcotics trade.

Analysts estimate Bashar al-Assad's regime raked in $5 billion per year from the Captagon drug trade, dwarfing Syria's official budget and making it a lifeline for the bankrupted country. Imtiaz Tyab has new details about what was discovered about the ...