Damascus says, seized 'large shipment of drugs from Lebanon'

BEIRUT — Syrian authorities announced Monday that they had foiled a major drug smuggling operation across the border between Lebanon and Syria, according to Syria's official news agency, Sana.

The shipment, originating from Lebanon, was reportedly headed to Syria before continuing on to Jordan and then the Gulf countries, Sana said.

Syrian authorities seized 226 balloons intended for drug transport, 106 kilograms of hashish, 650,000 captagon pills, 238 grams of crystal meth, 60 grams of marijuana and counterfeit bills amounting to $30,000.

The operation was carried out by the anti-narcotics unit in the city of Yabroud, southern Syria. The traffickers fled toward Lebanon after brief clashes with Syrian authorities, Sana added.

Captagon, an illegal synthetic amphetamine, became Syria's major export during the civil war that began in 2011, serving as a significant source of illicit funding for Bashar al-Assad's regime, which turned the country into a narco-state.

Since the fall of Assad, Syria's new Islamist rulers have reported numerous major seizures of captagon from across the country, including shipments from Lebanon.

According to a report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), published in late December 2025, captagon production in Syria has been severely disrupted by the regime change.

However, the agency says that production likely continues "in neighboring countries of Syria."

The report also notes that while Gulf countries remain the main destination for this illicit market, traffickers have continued to diversify their strategies since December 2024, when Bashar al-Assad fell.

New routes and "re-packaging" points for the pills — often concealed within other goods — have been reported in Western and Central Europe and North Africa, while transportation is now more frequently carried out via land and sea routes, crossing multiple borders before reaching the Gulf in an effort to blur the trail.

The report also notes "inventive" methods for crossing land borders, including the use of drones or inflatable balloons.