
Since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, industrial-scale manufacturing facilities of the amphetamine-like stimulant Captagon have been uncovered around the country, fueling a $10 billion annual global trade in the highly addictive drug.
Locations such as the Mazzeh air base in Damascus, a car-trading company in Latakia, and a former snack chip factory in Douma were used for manufacturing the drug. The civil war in Syria created fertile ground for the production of Captagon, transforming it into a billion-dollar industry run by militias, warlords, and the Assad government.