US-UK coordinate sanctions against Syria’s Assad and captagon trade 

The United States and United Kingdom have announced coordinated sanctions against individuals and entities in Syria and Lebanon accused of supporting the regime of Bashar al-Assad and its alleged involvement in the production and export of the drug captagon, including two of the Syrian president’s cousins.

‘The trade in Captagon is estimated to have become a billion-dollar illicit enterprise,’ said the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). According to OFAC, the designations also ‘highlight the important role of Lebanese drug traffickers – some of whom maintain ties to Hizballah – in facilitating the export of Captagon.’

OFAC and the UK’s Foreign Affairs Office provided separate lists of designated individuals and entities.

OFAC list: 

• Samer Kamal al-Assad 
• Wassim Badi al-Assad 
• Khalid Qaddour 
• Imad Abu Zureik

LEBANESE AFFILIATES

• Hassan Muhammad Daqqou and his company, Hassan Daqqou Trading 
• Al-Israa Establishment for Import and Export 
• Noah Zaitar

UK list: 

• Samer Kamal Al Asad
• Waseem Badia Al Asad
• Abdellatif Hamid
• Imad Abu Zureiq
• Mustafa Al Masalmeh 
• Taher Al Kayali 
• Amer Khiti 
• Hassan Muhammad Daqqou 
• Mohammed Shalish 
• Raji Falhout 
• Noah Zaiter 

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1369

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/tackling-the-illicit-drug-trade-fuelling-assads-war-machine