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Act Daily News
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A extremely addictive drug that turned Syria’s financial lifeline over a decade of isolation might now be serving as a bargaining chip because it tries to normalize ties with neighboring states, analysts say.
Captagon, a drug that’s comparatively unknown outdoors the Middle East, helped Syria flip right into a narco-state after a lot of the worldwide neighborhood minimize off its economic system as a result of its brutal crackdown on an rebellion in 2011.
It is an artificial amphetamine-type stimulant, fenethylline, which works by the commerce identify captagon, and has turn into the middle of an rising variety of drug busts throughout the Middle East. Experts say the overwhelming majority of world captagon manufacturing happens in Syria, with the Gulf area being its main vacation spot.
The progress of the business has raised alarms within the worldwide neighborhood. Last yr, the US launched the 2022 US Captagon Act, which linked the commerce to the Syrian regime and known as it a “transnational security threat.”
After greater than a decade of boycotting him, Syria’s Arab neighbors at the moment are in talks to convey President Bashar al-Assad in from the chilly. The Syrian chief has been obtained in some Arab capitals, however he’s but to be awarded the last word normalization with Saudi Arabia, one in all Syria’s staunchest foes – and the most important marketplace for its medication.
Following the lethal February 6 earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria, Saudi reduction planes landed for the primary time in a decade at regime-controlled airports. And final month, Saudi state media reported Riyadh was in talks with Damascus to renew offering consular companies between the 2 international locations.
Analysts say captagon is more likely to be excessive on the agenda in makes an attempt at normalization.
Saudi media has been sounding the alarm these days over the rise in drug use. In September, Saudi authorities introduced the biggest seizure of illicit medication within the nation’s historical past after almost 47 million amphetamine capsules have been hidden in a flour cargo and seized at a warehouse within the capital Riyadh. Millions extra capsules have been intercepted since. The UN says amphetamine seizures within the area refer predominantly to captagon.
“Captagon has been touted as a ‘card’ in rapprochement talks between the Syrian regime and counterparts pursuing normalization,” stated Caroline Rose, director of the New Lines Institute’s Project on the Captagon Trade in Washington, DC.
“The regime has been leveraging its agency over the captagon trade, signaling to states considering normalization that they could reduce captagon trafficking as a goodwill gesture,” Rose informed Act Daily News.
Exported by a number of actors, together with Syrian smugglers, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and pro-Iranian Iraqi militias, “the captagon smuggling is worth more than Syria’s legal export,” stated Vanda Felbab-Brown, a fellow on the Brookings Institution in Washington DC and an skilled on the subject. Hezbollah has denied ties to any drug trades.
The United Kingdom, which final month imposed new sanctions on Syrians linked to the commerce, stated the Assad regime has benefited from the captagon commerce to the tune of $57 billion. It described it as a “financial lifeline” for Assad that’s “worth approximately three times the combined trade of the Mexican (drug) cartels.”
Syrian state media usually studies on captagon drug busts, saying that the inside ministry is cracking down on its commerce in addition to that of different narcotics.
Salah Malkawi, a Jordanian analyst who follows the commerce intently, says that regardless of Syria’s denial, it’s unimaginable for the drug to cross borders with out the involvement of a number of actors intently tied to Assad and his regime.
“Commanders of militias, security agencies, military forces are involved in the drug smuggling operation,” Malkawi stated. “The drugs cannot reach these areas without passing through dozens of barriers and checkpoints that fall under the Fourth Division, which is under the leadership of Maher al-Assad, the brother of the Syrian president.”
“I’ve spoken to several (smugglers),” he stated. “They have received military training … using war tactics … to carry out sophisticated raids.”
The Syrian authorities didn’t reply to Act Daily News’s request for remark.
Jordan, which supported anti-regime teams in the beginning of the Syrian civil battle, has in latest months additionally been on the street to rapprochement with Assad.
Its international minister this yr made his first go to to Damascus because the begin of the Syrian civil battle and has been sending humanitarian assist following the February 6 earthquake.
Jordan has been immediately impacted by Syria’s captagon commerce as a result of prevalence of its use in border areas within the northeast of the nation, stated Saud Al-Sharafat, a former brigadier normal within the Jordanian General Intelligence Directorate, in addition to founding father of the Shorufat ِCenter for the Study of Globalization and Terrorism in Amman, Jordan.
“There is also the high cost of securing the borders and the increase in pressure on the armed forces and security services,” Al-Sharafat informed Act Daily News.
He welcomed the US Captagon Act as “the first serious international effort” to forestall the regime from increasing its use of the drug “to destabilize security in the region and the world.” Syria might doubtlessly flood Europe and Western international locations with the drug by Turkey and use it as a bargaining chip towards them, he stated.
But even when agreements are reached between Syria and its neighbors over stopping exports of the drug, specialists say it’s unlikely that Assad will totally abandon the commerce.
“That’s asking the key trafficker to stop his business,” Felbab-Brown stated. “It is very unlikely that the Assad regime would give up on its crucial revenue source.”
At greatest, he might supply beauty options to the issue, specialists say, promising tighter restrictions and more durable regulation enforcement at residence on producers and merchants, whom the regime denies it’s concerned with.
Rose of the New Lines Institute stated that the regime might preserve its captagon companies as a type of long-term leverage towards its neighbors, whereas sustaining “some level of plausible deniability with the trade, blaming opposition forces and non-state actors, while undertaking a wave of cosmetic seizures at home to shift the blame away from the government.”
Nadeen Ebrahim contributed to this report.
Israeli’s spy company inspired protests towards authorities, leaked US report says
A leaked US intelligence report about Israel has sparked outrage in Jerusalem. The report, produced by the CIA and sourced to alerts intelligence, says that Israel’s important intelligence company, the Mossad, had been encouraging protests towards the nation’s new authorities – “including several explicit calls to action.” The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office responded on the Mossad’s behalf Sunday morning, calling the report “mendacious and without any foundation whatsoever.” It added: “The Mossad and its senior officials did not – and do not – encourage agency personnel to join the demonstrations against the government, political demonstrations or any political activity.”
- Background: Highly labeled Pentagon paperwork leaked on-line in latest weeks have supplied a uncommon window into how the US spies on allies and foes alike, deeply rattling US officers, who worry the revelations might jeopardize delicate sources and compromise vital international relationships. Some of the paperwork, which US officers say are genuine, expose the extent of US eavesdropping on key allies, together with South Korea, Israel and Ukraine.
- Why it issues: Israel has confronted months of protests towards a controversial plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing authorities to weaken the judiciary. The protests, which have been supported by some parts of the army and safety companies, have barely waned since Netanyahu introduced a delay of the plan two weeks in the past, however the nation stays deeply divided on the matter.
Saudi and Omani delegations arrive in Yemen for talks with Houthi leaders
Delegations of Saudi and Omani negotiators arrived in Yemen’s capital Sana’a on Saturday for talks with Houthi leaders, in keeping with the Houthi-run news company Saba. The Saudi and Omani delegations will meet with the top of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, Mahdi Al-Mashat, to debate “lifting the siege with all its repercussions, stopping the aggression, and restoring all the rightful rights of the Yemeni people, including the payment of salaries of all state employees from oil and gas revenues,” Saba reported, citing sources. Houthi officers additionally stated 13 prisoners launched by Saudi authorities as a part of a prisoner swap had arrived at Sanaa International Airport on Saturday.
- Background: The talks – involving prime degree officers – are a part of ongoing efforts to barter a everlasting ceasefire settlement between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned Houthi motion who’ve been at battle in Yemen since 2015. The discussions come following a shock Chinese-brokered rapprochement between regional arch-rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran in March, which has raised hopes for an finish to hostilities.
- Why it issues: Yemen’s battle is seen as the primary proxy battle between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Since the Saudi-led battle within the nation began, the Houthis have launched lots of of missiles on Saudi Arabia and, to a lesser diploma, the United Arab Emirates. A ceasefire would convey calm to Saudi Arabia’s 1,300-kilometer (808-mile) border with Yemen as the dominion focuses its effort on financial diversification.
Controversial Israeli minister joins hundreds of settlers marching to unlawful outpost in occupied West Bank
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir joined hundreds of Israeli settlers marching to an unlawful outpost within the occupied West Bank on Monday afternoon. The rally was organized by activist teams who need to legalize the outpost at Evyatar. A spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas described the march as an “invasion of settler militias, led by ministers from the Israeli occupation government,” that “does not change the fact that it is Palestinian land,” in keeping with the Palestinian News Agency WAFA.
- Background: Israeli settlers left Evyatar in 2021 after a take care of the federal government of then-prime minister Naftali Bennett, which noticed them depart provided that the buildings would stay. Evyatar sits on a hilltop recognized regionally as Jabal Subeih. The website is seen as strategic, a excessive level alongside a hall linking Tel Aviv to the Jordan Valley.
- Why it issues: With a brand new Israeli authorities now in energy, the settlers are campaigning to legalize the outpost. The march comes after the United States final month summoned Israel’s ambassador in Washington over the Israeli parliament’s vote to roll again 2005 laws that beforehand ordered the evacuation of 4 Israeli settlements established within the northern West Bank.
Abu Dhabi know-how firm e& has agreed to take a 50.3% stake in a brilliant app managed by Careem, Uber’s Middle East subsidiary, in a transaction valued at $400 million, Reuters cited the corporate as saying on Monday. The ride-hailing business will probably be separated from the Careem tremendous app business and will probably be totally owned by Uber. The tremendous app presents companies outdoors its core ride-hailing business comparable to meals supply, bike leases, digital funds and courier companies.
A video of an imam main prayer in a mosque as a shock furry visitor abruptly joins his congregation went viral on social media, with many praising the Muslim prayer chief for conserving his cool because the cat climbs up his chest and rests on his shoulder.
The clip of imam Walid Mehsas, which was captured at a mosque in Algeria, garnered tens of millions of views and was picked up by worldwide media channels.
The video even triggered a cartoon drawing of the second by artist Karim Saidi, which was additionally shared extensively on social media, and began a debate about Islam’s place on cats. Unlike canine, Islam considers cats to be clear sufficient to be allowed into mosques, and the felines can usually be seen roaming round worshippers.
Speaking in a video printed on his official Facebook web page, Mehsas on Saturday stated the incident was spontaneous. He additionally urged worshipers to do not forget that Islam dictates mercy in the direction of all animals, and denied rumors that the Algerian authorities rewarded him for his kindness to the animal.
![An Egyptian Coptic priest sprinkles holy water during Palm Sunday Mass at the Saint Simon Monastery, also known as the Cave Church, in Cairo's Mokattam mountain on Sunday.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230410110957-01-palm-sunday-040923-egypt.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_720,w_1280,c_fill)
Source: www.cnn.com