Published on 6/14/2026
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Last update: 14:15 (Mecca time)
The Syrian Ministry of Interior announced – today, Sunday – that the Narcotics Control Administration, in coordination with the Iraqi authorities, dismantled an international drug smuggling network, arrested a number of its members, and confiscated quantities of Captagon pills and hashish.
The Ministry reported, through its official sources, that it had carried out “specific and simultaneous operations in the provinces of Homs and Deir ez-Zor, in cooperation with the General Directorate of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Affairs” in Iraq, and resulted in “the arrest of a number of members of the network, in addition to the confiscation of 800,000 Captagon pills and 60 kilograms of narcotic hashish, which were prepared for smuggling and promotion.”
The Syrian Interior added, “This operation reflects the high level of coordination and fruitful intelligence cooperation between the competent authorities in the two countries, to strike the supply lines of international smuggling networks and protect society from the dangers of this scourge.”
Iraq: The operation continued for days
For its part, the General Directorate of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Affairs in Iraq announced that it had overthrown an international network of 9 dealers and seized 200 kilograms of narcotic substances deep inside Syria.
She said in a statement, “Detachments of the General Directorate for Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Affairs, in direct coordination with the Anti-Narcotics Administration in the Syrian Arab Republic, carried out a series of simultaneous operations deep inside Syria that continued for several days” in the provinces of Deir ez-Zor and Homs.
The Directorate’s statement considered that “this operation confirms the high level of coordination and effective intelligence cooperation between the drug control agencies in the two countries, within the framework of joint efforts to dry up the sources of smuggling, strike the supply lines of international drug networks, and protect society from the dangers of this scourge.”
Previous cooperation brings down smuggling networks
On January 15, the Syrian authorities announced a joint security operation with the Iraqi side targeting “an international criminal network specializing in the manufacture, promotion, and smuggling of narcotic substances,” which included the governorates of Homs, the Damascus countryside, and the territory of the Iraqi Republic. It resulted in the arrest of two members of the network in Syria and another inside Iraq. This is the first Syrian cooperation with a neighboring country in the fight against drugs since the fall of the Assad regime.
On April 26, the Anti-Narcotics Administration in Syria, in coordination with Iraq, thwarted “an attempt to smuggle huge shipments of narcotic drugs through a series of specific operations carried out in the Damascus and Homs countryside governorates, aimed at dismantling an international smuggling network with a regional extension,” which resulted in the seizure of about 1,730,000 Captagon pills and the arrest of 8 members of the network.
Combating drugs in Syria
Since the fall of the Assad regime on December 8, 2024, the new Syrian government has been talking about implementing extensive security operations in various Syrian territories, to combat the production, promotion and smuggling of types of drugs, the production and promotion of which to neighboring countries has been linked to organized networks that have been affiliated with the Assad regime during the past years.
The Syrian security services periodically announce the dismantling of smuggling networks and the seizure of narcotic drugs and hashish as part of security operations, the most recent of which took place on June 5 in Tartous Governorate, which resulted in the arrest of two members of a cell active in drug possession and the seizure of about two million Captagon pills that were prepared for smuggling, according to the Syrian Interior Ministry.
During last May, the Ministry said that it seized about 28 million Captagon pills, 40,000 various pills, and 658 kilograms of raw materials for manufacturing, in addition to field follow-up of 175 dealers and users, according to information it published through its official accounts.
