- An uptick in violent incidents at the Syrian-Jordanian border between drug smugglers and the Jordanian army, with the former supported by the Syrian army and the pro-Iranian militias, has the king of Jordan worried, and he has asked Washington for help.
- Syria is the primary Middle Eastern producer and disseminator of the drug Captagon. General Maher al-Assad, brother of the Syrian president, is in charge of the smuggling network.

In the assessment of security sources, the chances of the international community forcing the Syrian regime to stop the production and trade of the drug are close to zero. The economic sanctions on Syria have made the drug trade a means of political and economic survival for the regime.