When Bashar al-Assad lost control of Syria’s oil-rich eastern regions to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), he turned to Iran for oil supplies and financial support to sustain his regime. This reliance marked a critical moment in Syria’s descent into economic and political collapse. Assad’s government, already teetering on bankruptcy, faced the impossible task of funding a brutal war without reliable revenue streams. His solution was a dark turn: reliance on drug trafficking and terrorism as the regime’s most lucrative exports.

This assertion might sound like a hyperbolic attack on a weakened regime, but the Syrian government itself has been transparent about leveraging these illicit activities to navigate its geopolitical challenges. Even as international scrutiny mounted, Assad used the regime’s narcotics trade, particularly Captagon, as a bargaining chip in regional negotiations. This tactic laid bare the regime’s desperate measures to cling to power, with dire consequences for Syria and its neighbors.

Despite the reconciliation agreement between Syria and Saudi Arabia in May 2023, no Saudi ambassador took up residence in Damascus until recently. Diplomatic representation remained confined to the Four Seasons Hotel, and Riyadh’s reluctance to fully normalize relations stemmed from Assad’s failure to deliver on key promises. Chief among these was halting the smuggling of Captagon, a potent amphetamine that has flooded Gulf markets. Assad demanded financial compensation to curb the trade, a strategy reminiscent of Pablo Escobar’s extortion tactics.

Western estimates suggest that Captagon sales generate over $5 billion annually for Assad’s regime, surpassing Syria’s pre-war oil revenues. For Riyadh,........

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