I am also curious about what happens with the captagon trade. I've seen mentions that captagon export was Assad's main source of hard currency. Der Spiegel suggested $5.7 bn annually.
The religious fundamentalists might want to make a big show of saying no to drugs, and destroy captagon production. If so, how well prepared are we for a new Syria who will see a corresponding fiscal hole in their economy? We may see the emergence of an urban middle class who sees everything around them falling apart, without really understanding why. These people may not have knowingly been part of the drug trade, but may have been a lot more adjacent to it than they were aware of themselves – I'm thinking money laundering, logistics etc.
EDIT: Perplexity offer sources that suggest $2.4 bn directly to the state coffers anually, and a further $10 bn benefit to the Syrian economy as a whole.
I am also curious about what happens with the captagon trade. I've seen mentions that captagon export was Assad's main source of hard currency. Der Spiegel suggested $5.7 bn annually.
The religious fundamentalists might want to make a big show of saying no to drugs, and destroy captagon production. If so, how well prepared are we for a new Syria who will see a corresponding fiscal hole in their economy? We may see the emergence of an urban middle class who sees everything around them falling apart, without really understanding why. These people may not have knowingly been part of the drug trade, but may have been a lot more adjacent to it than they were aware of themselves – I'm thinking money laundering, logistics etc.
EDIT: Perplexity offer sources that suggest $2.4 bn directly to the state coffers anually, and a further $10 bn benefit to the Syrian economy as a whole.