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Iran Spreads Illegal Drugs throughout the World

(Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs) Lenny Ben-David - In May 2023, a Royal Jordanian Air Force F-16 fighter jet bombed targets in southern Syria. The target was Merhi al-Ramthan, the region's leading smuggler of weapons and Captagon. Ramthan's massive production and smuggling of the addictive drugs to Jordan put him on Jordan's most wanted list. The Jordanian Air Force conducted four more raids against smugglers in early 2024. Among the groups operating the smuggling network are Iran's Quds Force, Hizbullah, Iranian proxy militias, and elements in the Assad regime, including President Assad's brother, Gen. Maher Assad. Captagon is Syria's largest export, providing as much as $10 billion a year. Former Jordanian Minister of Information Samih al-Maaytah insists that "Jordan knows the country that stands behind this. It's Iran that is sponsoring these militias. These are hostile military actions against Jordan on its territory. Smuggling networks have intensified their activities recently to...form a local militia targeting the security services from inside Jordanian territory." Former Jordanian Ambassador to Iran Bassam Al-Amoush said, "Iran has tried to infiltrate Jordan in different ways, whether by forming armed organizations within it, by promoting Shi'ite tourism to Jordan, by becoming involved in economic projects there, or by using its militias to smuggle arms and drugs into the kingdom." Hamas provided its fighters with "little white courage" pills before their onslaught on Jews on October 7, 2023. "Hamas terrorists who carried out the October 7 massacre were found to be under the influence of Captagon, a synthetic amphetamine-type stimulant....The pills were recovered from the pockets of many terrorists." The writer, former Deputy Chief of Mission in Israel's Washington Embassy, is Director of the Institute for U.S.-Israel Relations at the Jerusalem Center.
2024-10-15 00:00:00
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