Published on 6/27/2026
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Last update: 13:32 (Mecca time)
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa said that his country “inherited from the bygone era a heavy legacy of drug manufacturing and promotion,” adding that “our priorities are to declare a comprehensive war on this scourge to dry up its sources and cut off its smuggling routes.” This came in conjunction with the launch of the “National Campaign to Combat Drugs and Treat Addiction” by the Ministries of Interior and Health, in an event attended by Al-Sharaa at the Conferences Palace in Damascus.
Controlling smuggling factories and networks
The event, titled “Syria Without Drugs,” witnessed a presentation of the efforts of the new Syrian government in this regard, as the Interior Ministry announced the dismantling of 17 Captagon manufacturing factories, the seizure of 20 storage warehouses, in addition to the dismantling of 90 smuggling networks.
The total toll of seized seizures included 697 million Captagon pills, in addition to the seizure of 221 tons of raw materials needed for manufacturing, and other quantities of hashish, crystal, narcotic drugs, cocaine, and heroin.
60 joint operations with neighboring countries
The Director of the Narcotics Control Department, Khaled Eid, revealed to “Syria Now” the source of these seized shipments, which are “either coming from some neighboring countries to Syria or from hidden warehouses” inside the country.
The Ministry of Interior announced that it had carried out 60 security operations as part of its efforts to combat drugs, including 28 joint operations with Iraq, 13 with Jordan, and 9 other operations with Turkey, in addition to 9 operations with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the Emirates, and one operation with Lebanon.
Despite this, smuggling operations continue “through some border areas due to the rugged terrain,” as Maher Al-Shabib, head of the anti-narcotics branch in Homs, confirmed to “Syria Now.”
Preventive and medical course
Director of the Mental Health Department at the Ministry of Health, Wael Al-Ras, announced, during the launch of the “Syria Without Drugs” campaign, that a mental health department had been established in his ministry as a foundational step, indicating the actual start of training community members so that they can participate directly in prevention and treatment efforts.
In a statement to the official Al-Ekhbariya channel, Interior Ministry spokesman Nour El-Din Al-Baba said that the ministry is looking forward to completely ending the drug phenomenon within the next two or three years.
In recent years, before the fall of the Assad regime, Syria has turned into one of the most famous countries in the world for manufacturing and exporting narcotic substances, and Captagon, through networks supported by the ousted regime.
The Observatory of Political and Economic Networks – which tracks Captagon trade in the Arab world – reported that the Assad regime received an average of $2.4 billion annually from this income between 2020 and 2022, which is equivalent to a quarter of Syria’s gross domestic product.
