Captagon: Hezbollah’s main financier

Hezbollah, operating as Iran’s proxy army in Lebanon, has for decades financed its activities with the drug trade in addition to Iranian aid. For a couple of decades now, Hezbollah has controlled the Bekaa Valley and engaged in successful cannabis and opium production. In recent years, the organization has focused especially on the production, smuggling, distribution and money laundering of the income derived from the amphetamine-like synthetic stimulant known by the market name Captagon. Last year, Captagon’s market area began to expand from the Middle East to Europe, and Hezbollah and Syria are trying to seek additional growth in the ...