Assad regime's sideline in illegal Captagon drug that 'netted more than three times the income of Mexico's cartels' and was used by ISIS fanatics to fuel murder rampages

Under murderous dictator Bashar Al-Assad, Syrians faced massive crackdowns for alleged drug use for years, often being handed long sentences in prisons where they would be subjected to horrific torture. A heavily-built jihadi, dressed in military fatigues and wearing a black balaclava, can be seen swinging a 4ft sword down on to the head of his victim in Raqqa, Syria Under murderous dictator Bashar al-Assad, Syrians faced massive crackdowns for alleged drug use for years A customs officer displays Captagon pills, part of the 789 kilograms of confiscated drugs, before its incineration in Sofia, 12, 2007 'It gives you a sense of well-being and euphoria. Intelligence sources based in the region say Captagon is still produced in small factories along the Syrian-Lebanese border as well as larger ones closer to Syria's frontier with Jordan. In this June 23, 2014 file photo, fighters from the Islamic State group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle in the northern city of Mosul, Iraq A car burns after an airstrike next to a hospital in Idlib, Syria, Monday Dec.2, 2024 Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have long seen Captagon as a scourge on their nations, and spent considerable resources cracking down on smuggling operations.