According to a new report in Time magazine, the drug trade may be funding Syria’s on-going civil war. Their investigation found that both sides of the conflict may be involved in the smuggling and sale of a powerful amphetamine known as Captagon. The drug, which is relatively cheap and easy to produce, has begun showing up in other Middle Eastern countries, and drug officials believe it originated in Syria. Lebanon’s top drug-enforcement officer, Colonel Ghassan Chams Eddine told Time that anti-Assad rebel forces are likely behind several major Captagon operations that have led to an increased presence of the street drug across the country. “They run two or three operations like that, and they can easily get $300 million. That would buy a lot of guns.”
U.S. Treasury official Matthew Levitt also believes that the creation and sale of the drug is funding the efforts of pro-Assad Hizballah militias. Though Hizballah denies any connection to the drug trade (saying it is in violation of their strict religious code), high-ranking leaders of Hizballah have long been linked to the production of dangerous street drugs. Syria’s horrific civil war, which has now been going on for two years, has killed hundreds of thousands and created more than 2 million refugees, who have been forced to flee their homes …
