How Syria’s captagon trade shifted to Sweida after Assad’s fall

How Syria’s captagon trade shifted to Sweida after Assad’s fall Submitted by Reem Aouir on Thu, 06/04/2026 - 12:50 Once a key smuggling corridor, Sweida has emerged as the drug's new hub in Syria, fuelled by weak state control and ongoing Israeli support for local armed factions A member of the Syrian security forces empties a sack of captagon into a ditch to burn them in a field near the Fourth Division's Security Bureau on the outskirts of Damascus on 19 January 2025 (Bakr al-Kasem/AFP) Off As Syria's new authorities dismantle the remnants of Bashar al-Assad's captagon empire, attention is increasingly turning to the southern province of Sweida. Once primarily a transit route for narcotics destined for Jordan and the Gulf, local investigations and regional security data suggest the province has evolved into one of the country's most important centres for drug trafficking since Assad's fall in December 2024. For years under the former authorities, the multi-billion-dollar industry of the cheaply produced and addictive amphetamine operated as a de facto source of state wealth.