The Syrian Army’s 4th Division, an elite unit known for its close ties to Iran, has returned to the south of the country a year after its withdrawal due to an international agreement and at a time when the United States is finalizing a strategy to combat drug trafficking in the region.
These forces, led by Maher al Assad, brother of Syrian President Bashar al Assad, have since last month returned to their former checkpoints and areas near the Jordanian border to, according to the Syrian National Security Bureau, «stop the smuggling of money, goods and other materials» as well as to assist the Border Guard in its inspections.
The 4th Division and allied Iranian militias began withdrawing from their southern positions in September 2021 — in particular from the vicinity of the city of Deraa al Balad, an opposition stronghold they besieged for months — through the mediation of the Russian government, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an NGO specializing in the conflict in the Arab republic, reported at the time.
Deserters and members of the opposition accuse the division of having become a mafia involved in drug trafficking that now controls most of this business between Lebanon and Syria.
Former army officer and opposition member Abu Mohamed said that the division has been deployed at the Nasib border crossing and along the border with Jordan, the scene over the past two years of an increase in drug trafficking, according to an analysis by the Syria Direct portal, which also specializes in monitoring the war in Syria.
The also former commander and oppositionist Abu Zaid assures the portal that the return to the south of the 4th Division is related to a process of restructuring the production and smuggling of drugs» and to control the latest skirmishes between local drug gangs, especially to control the distribution of the stimulant known as Captagon, object in December last year of a new US initiative to prevent its smuggling.
The so-called Combating the Proliferation, Trafficking and Procurement of Narcotics Act (CAPTAGON) states that «drug trafficking linked to the Al Assad regime poses a «transnational security threat» and ordered security agencies to develop a written strategy within three months to «disrupt and dismantle narcotics production and trafficking and affiliated networks linked to the Al Assad regime in Syria» and neighboring countries.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
