Damascus wields captagon to get concessions from neighbors – Expert
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The Syrian government exploits the captagon trade as a negotiation tactic, leveraging it to apply pressure on neighboring countries seeking to normalize relations with Damascus and extract concessions from them, an expert said on Monday.
In an interview with American think tank the Atlantic Council, captagon trade researcher Caroline Rose, said that at first, there have been regional efforts to collaborate with the Syrian government on counternarcotics.
However, as captagon shipments continued to flow from Syria, these countries shifted away from that path and started “looking at other alternatives, for example, regional frameworks, regional mechanisms that can help combat the captagon trade,” she noted.
She believed that the US can create a venue for the affected countries through though which they can come to the table and “collaborate without the Syrian regime being directly involved.”
Captagon has plagued Syria for years, with its origins intertwined with the early days of the conflict. Numerous reports indicate Iran and its militias’ involvement in its production and facilitation, leading some experts to argue that the trade lies beyond the scope of the Syrian government.