'Captagon sanctions' bill introduced to US Congress

On Tuesday, a bill was introduced in the US Congress to impose new sanctions on individuals and networks associated with the production of the illicit amphetamine Captagon.

Syria, alongside pro-Iran group Hezbollah, is accused of being the region's largest captagon producer and exporter, bringing in an estimated US$5.7 billion annually from the trend.

"My bill will further press the Assad regime by imposing new sanctions to directly target individuals and networks associated with the production and trafficking of Captagon," US Representative French Hill, the bill's co-sponsor, said on Tuesday.

Specific individuals, such as Lebanese drug kingpin Nouh Zeitar and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's cousin, Wasim al-Assad, are not sanctioned for their role in the Captagon trade.

Both individuals are influential members of a networks that, alongside critical parts of the Syrian regime, are alleged to facilitate the transnational trade of Captagon.

Members of the Assad regime like Maher al-Assaad, the brother of Bashar al-Assad, who is alleged to be the head of the country's production, are sanctioned under existing US Syria policy.

However, individuals not part of the regime, such as Zeitar, are not explicitly targeted under current US-Syria sanctions.

The proposed bill, the Illicit Captagon Trafficking Suppression Act, would build on existing US legislation, the CAPTAGON Act, which created an interagency strategy to disrupt the narcotic's trade.

The interagency strategy, released on 29 June, focuses on four "lines of effort" to counter the captagon trade.

The US would provide "diplomatic and intelligence support to law enforcement," impose sanctions against Assad-affiliated narcotic networks and provide anti-narcotics capacity building to partner countries.

The US would also use "diplomatic engagement and public messaging to exert pressure on the Assad regime."

The strategy is focused on the elements of captagon trafficking outside of Syria, as the US acknowledged that it has "limited ability to affect drug production … from within Syria."

Syria's captagon trade has created friction between it and neighbouring states, such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Jordanian soldiers have been killed fighting drug traffickers on its borders, with a resurgence of trafficking activity starting in the winter of 2021.

The country is the main exit route for the drug to its primary market, the Arab Gulf States such as Saudi Arabia.

Stopping the trade of amphetamine has been a condition for Arab states to normalise relations with Syria, which has been an international pariah after its bloody crackdown on peaceful protesters in 2011.