What will happen to al-Assad’s Captagon empire now?

The trade of the illegal drug has flourished over the past decade in Syria. What happens to it now?

Following its ousting of the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria last week, the opposition alliance led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) invited international reporters to witness vast stockpiles and clandestine factories of the illicit drug Captagon.

Over the past decade, the al-Assad government has been accused of being the principal purveyor of Captagon, a highly addictive, amphetamine-like pill popular in wealthy Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia.

The profits propped up state finances, battered by sanctions and war, to the point that Syria has been described as a “narco-state”.

Led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, previously known as Abu Mohammed al-Julani, HTS and Syria’s new administration appear determined to make it clear they do not approve of Syria’s drug trade.

“HTS and Julani thus far have sought to put distance between this new transitional government and the Captagon trade,” Caroline Rose, an expert on Syrian drug trafficking at the New Lines Institute, told Al Jazeera.