Iraq and Lebanon’s Shared Intelligence Led to Captagon Factory Raid
Iraq’s Interior Ministry announced late Monday that one of Lebanon’s largest Captagon factories has been uncovered and dismantled, describing the move as part of rare security cooperation between Baghdad and Beirut.
According to the ministry, Lebanese forces raided the facility in Yammoune, a village in the eastern Bekaa Valley, in mid-July after Iraqi intelligence passed along details about its operations. At the time, Lebanon’s army reported seizing large quantities of narcotics at the site but did not disclose Iraq’s role in the tipoff.
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A senior Lebanese security official confirmed Tuesday that contacts with regional and international counterparts are routine but questioned the timing of Baghdad’s public disclosure. The official, who spoke anonymously under regulations, noted that Lebanon’s agencies remain in constant communication with Arab and foreign partners.
The regional push against Captagon has grown sharper since the ouster of Syrian leader Bashar Assad last December. Western governments have long accused Assad and his network of profiting from the illicit trade, which has generated billions of dollars. Damascus consistently denied the allegations, but with Assad gone and Islamist factions in control, pressure has increased to dismantle drug production across Syria and Lebanon.
In February, the interior ministers of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq met in Amman to coordinate anti-smuggling strategies and set up a telecommunications unit to share intelligence. Jordan, a frequent transit route for shipments headed to Gulf states, has been central to these efforts.
Captagon, an amphetamine notorious for fueling both recreational abuse and regional instability, remains a focal point of Arab security cooperation as neighboring states seek to contain its spread.
