AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – Two sources of the Turkish-backed armed Syrian opposition factions in the city of Afrin, north of Aleppo, believe the gaining control of the city by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS- formerly al-Nusra Front) marks an ascension in drug market in the city and its countryside.
On October 13, HTS took control over Afrin following clashes with the Third Legion, a faction of the Turkish-backed factions known as Syrian National Army (SNA), that was forced to retreat towards the city of Azaz and its countryside.
In principle, clashes ended with HTS’s control of Kafr Janneh with a partial withdrawal towards Idlib conditioned that the Third Legion not enter Afrin that remains under HTS’s security bodies and the allied factions.
The General Security Apparatus of HTS controlled all aspects of life in Afrin in cooperation with allied factions such as Hamza Division, al-Amshat and Levant Legion.
Two sources, one is a security member of Sultan Murad Faction affiliated with Hayat Thaeroon for Liberation (a body affiliated with the Turkish-backed SNA) and the other from Hamza Division, also affiliated with SNA, said the HTS takeover of Afrin marks a new era in the trade of drugs.
The two sources noted this would be via either widening the local market or receiving shipments coming from areas under pro-Iranian militias and the Syrian government forces adjacent to Afrin in the south, in a reference to the two Shiite towns of Nubl and Zahraa.
New thrive
Drug manufacturing and trading flourished in Afrin under the Turkish-backed factions, in contrast to other Syrian areas.
Afrin, a Kurdish city in the north of Aleppo, has been under the occupation of Turkey since March 2018 following a military operation called “Olive Branch” which resulted in the displacement of about 300.000 people of the original inhabitants of the city and its countryside.
This owes to its strategic position in north of Aleppo that serves as a corridor for manufactured drugs in local factories or those coming from areas under the influence of Iranian militias and the government forces towards Turkish coasts up to the Gulf states or European countries.
Today, Afrin is a home to 7 drug factories in addition to hashish fields on the border strip with Turkey.
There are other factors that lead to activating the drugs market in Afrin in terms of production and promotion, including “the SNA military and security leaders being responsible for drugs production and promotion, taking drugs as a main resource of income,” according to sources.
Factionalism and anarchy create a hotbed for drug manufacturing and trading all under the nose of the Turkish authorities that keep watching.
Thrive of drugs in the region is attributed to the exclusion by HTS with allied SNA factions to the arch enemy; Third Legion.
The enmity between the Third Legion and pro-HTS factions served as a main obstacle to shipping of drugs estimated hundreds of thousands of US dollars as a kind of revenge not catering for community, according to the source.
The Third Legion has six factions: Levant Front, Jaish al-Islam, Faylaq al-Majd, Liwa al-Salam, Sultan Malak Shah Division and Division 51.
The Third Legion runs, via a number of its military and security leaders, runs drug and hashish factories in Azaz, Marea, al-Bab, and Akhtarin in north of Aleppo, added to a factory in Kafr Janneh that was emptied after HTS gained control over the area.
HTS’s aim
HTS, under raiding houses in Afrin to pursue drug addicts, chases Third Legion militants to liquidate or capture them, to “solely lead the drug trade.”
On October 26, HTS security militants raided houses in the Ashrafiya neighborhood in Afrin under the clock of “pursuing drug addicts.”
An exclusive source told North Press a group of security personnel of HTS raided houses in Ashrafiya accommodating militants of the Third Legion under the pretext of searching for drug addicts.
The source added the HTS militants were dressed in the Turkish-backed Military Police uniform accompanied by a number of policemen.
Drug figures
Based on information obtained from exclusive sources of drug dealers affiliated with the SNA in Afrin and other civilian ones, Afrin includes now 7 drug factories.
There are Captagon (two kinds), plastic bags, in addition to four fields of hashish (hemp) on 300-500 acres in Rajo and Sheikh Hadid north of Afrin on the border with Turkey under Sultan Murad Shah (al-Amshat), the Levant Legion and Hamza Division.
These added to kinds coming from areas under the control of the government forces and Iranian-backed militias that cannot be manufactured in the region such as Crystal, cocaine, heroin, Afghan hashish and Bulgarian captagon.
According to the two sources, hashish fields are run by Salil al-Haddar, a leader of Sham Legion, besides Muhammad al-Jassem Abu Amsha, leader of Sultan Murad Shah Division, via Abu Siraj al-Jassem, brother of Abu Amsha, and his son-in-law Ammar al-Omar as well as Abu Zayed al-Deri and Khatab al-Nayef, security leaders in Hamza Division.
There is a factory for cooking and folding hashish in bags each weighs 180 g. This factory is located in Sheikh Hadid on the northern part of the village close to the headquarters of Abu Ali security post.
The product is collected and delivered to the factory in coordination between the three factions. Male and females work in the factory that is run by a Turkish expert.
The drug factories (Captagon pills) are “located in Rajo run by Sham Legion and another in Jindires in west of Afrin that is run by Ahmad Nour, Salil al-Haddar and Arwa al-Remo all military leaders in the legion.”
There is a drug factory in the Sheikh Hadid area with 20 workers and five manufactories devices. There is another factory in Marate close to Afrin and a third in Basouta in west of Afrin.
In a relevant issue, Seif Polat, known as Seif Abu Bakr, possesses two factories of Captagon pills in Afrin and a third in east of Afrin. The two factories lie in the villages of Kafr Janneh and Sharan, according to the sources.