Yesterday, Rep. French Hill (AR-02) joined the New Lines Institute for a virtual discussion on the U.S. strategy on captagon titled, “The Captagon Trade Conference.”
Selected excerpts of Rep. Hill’s remarks below:
“Narcotic production and trafficking in Syria and its neighbors has become more expansive and widespread. The current epicenter of this drug trade is in territory controlled by the Assad regime. These drugs are not only crippling local populations, serving to undermine families and local communities, but also serve to fuel hostilities and finance the Assad regime and Iran-backed groups in the region.
“The U.S. government must do all it can to disrupt the industrial level of drug production currently taking place in Syria. If it does not, then we risk permitting the Narco-State of Assad to become a permanent fixture in the region… Assad will continue to drive the ongoing conflict, provide a lifeline to extremist groups, and permit American adversaries such as China, Russia, and Iran to strengthen their engagement there, posing an ever-larger threat to Israel and other partners in the region.”
“We need leadership here. Where like-minded members and partners around the world join us to end this narcotics trade and it starts by having a strategy, and that’s something I don’t think we have on an interagency basis fully which is why I suggest this legislation [H.R. 6265].”
Original source can be found here.
