Syrian authorities destroy 1 million Captagon tablets

Syria’s new authorities set fire to a large stockpile of medicines, including a million Captagon tablets, on Wednesday, two security officials said.

“The new government’s security forces discovered a drug warehouse while inspecting the security area,” said one member.

Authorities destroyed stocks of alcohol, cannabis, Captagon and hashish in order to “protect Syrian society” and “cut off smuggling routes used by the Assad family’s businesses,” he added. .

Law enforcement officers allegedly poured gasoline and set fire to a cache of cannabis, tramadol painkiller and about 50 bags of pink and yellow Captagon pills at a security compound once belonging to the ousted president’s forces Bashar al-Assad, in the capital’s Kafr Sousa district.

“We found a large quantity of Captagon, around a million tablets,” said a member of the security forces.

Captagon is an amphetamine-type stimulant that became Syria’s biggest export during more than 13 years of civil war, transforming the country into a narco-state under Assad.

Since Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) toppled Assad earlier this month, new Syrian authorities have said that massive quantities of Captagon have been discovered at former government sites across the country, including in security services. security.

A member of the security forces confirmed on Wednesday that “this is not the first initiative of this type: the security services, in a number of places, have discovered other warehouses… and manufacturing sites of drugs and destroyed them appropriately.”

Fighting between Turkish and Kurdish militants continues

Fighting between Turkish and Kurdish militants continued in northern Syria and Iraq after the fall of Assad, with 21 Kurdish militants killed on Wednesday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that Kurdish militants in Syria would lay down their arms or “be buried” as the conflict rages.

“The separatist murderers will either say goodbye to their weapons or they will be buried on Syrian territory with their weapons,” Erdogan told politicians from his ruling AK party in parliament.

Wednesday’s operations come amid ongoing hostilities in northeast Syria between Turkish-backed Syrian factions and the YPG.

Turkey views the YPG, the leading force of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as an extension of the PKK – a group that began as an armed insurgency against Turkey and which Turkey designates as a terrorist organization .

Turkey regularly carries out cross-border airstrikes and military operations targeting the PKK, which maintains bases in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq.

The conflict between Turkey and Kurdish rebels has left more than 40,000 dead.

After Assad’s fall, Turkey repeatedly stressed the need to disband the YPG.

Mr. Erdogan also said on Wednesday that Turkey would soon open its consulate in Aleppo, hoping that millions of Syrian migrants in Turkey would begin returning home.

Reuters/AFP