Large quantities of stimulant drugs had been found in warehouses across the country, which, according to new Syrian authorities, had been used by ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad and his inner circle as a multibillion-dollar industrial revenue stream.
Officials from Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the forces that toppled Assad, were seen pouring fuel over a cache of banned drugs before setting it on fire, according to Rudaw’s reporter on the ground Hafez Taraman.
Large sums of the painkiller tramadol, more than 60 sacks of Captagon pills, and narcotics in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood, Assad's former restricted zone, were reduced to ashes.
"Upon entering the capital Damascus, the fighters found a large warehouse of narcotics in the security square in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood in the heart of Damascus. The warehouse contained large quantities of Captagon, Hashish, Indian Hemp, as well as alcohol," Hamza Ismail, a security official told Rudaw.
"The security services took their role in protecting society. The drug that was used by the Assad family was destroyed by setting it on fire," he added.
Syria had become fertile ground for exporting and trading amphetamine-like drugs during the more than 13-year civil war.
But the ousting of Assad largely dismantled these networks, uncovering the illegal work of a funding machine that sustained Assad in power.
Maher Al Assad, the brother of Bashar Assad, who was also a military commander, is believed to be largely behind the illegal business.
The trade of Captagon also helped the Assad regime find leverage from its political isolation.
Multiple Arab nations ended years of frozen relations with Syria under the condition of Damascus halting trade in Captagon.
In May 2023, Syria was readmitted into Arab League, a body it had been kicked out of since 2011 following the regime's violent crackdown on protesters.
Rekar Aziz contributed to this report
