2023-10-20 04:09:00
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The IDF is said to have found stimulants from Hamas fighters. Did the militia use them to attack Israel?
Jerusalem/Gaza City – Giving soldiers stimulants before combat is a well-known method. Cocaine was used for this purpose in the First World War, followed by amphetamines and methamphetamine, developed in Germany, in the Second World War. The drugs are intended to lower the inhibition threshold, make the fighters more alert and shorten their reaction time.
Attack on Israel: Hamas terrorists are said to have been on drugs
According to reports, the militant Islamist Hamas militia could also use this tactic War in Israel have applied. According to the Italian newspaper The Republic Some of the Hamas commandos who carried out attacks on Israeli civilians near the Gaza Strip on October 7 were under the influence of a synthetic drug called Captagon.
Did Hamas Use Captagon Pills in the War in Israel? © Photomontage/imago
The IDF discovered traces of the drug on Hamas prisoners in Israel, the daily reports. Narcotic pills were also found in the pockets of Hamas members who remained on site after the fighting. However, this cannot be independently verified.
Captagon is a popular drug in the Middle East – Did Hamas use it in the attack on Israel?
Captagon is above all in near East popular, like the news portal Euronews writes. The drug is mainly produced in Syria and Lebanon, and its main market is Saudi Arabia. There, that’s how it will be according to the NZZ It is estimated that around 40 percent of all men between the ages of 12 and 25 consume Captagon. The drug is not only consumed by civilians, but also by government soldiers, jihadists and rebels in order to better withstand pain, fatigue, hunger and fear in combat.
This is lucrative for the Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, who also earns money from the business. While production costs a few cents, in Saudi Arabia you pay up to $25 per pill. The drug supports the battered Syrian war chest. The Saudi authorities regularly confiscate large quantities of pills, writes HE DOES. Although it is not always possible to determine where these come from, in several cases there are connections to the Syrian port city of Latakia. In July 2019, the Greek coast guard and drug investigators seized 33 million Captagon pills from Syria. A year later, Italian investigators seized 14 tons of Captagon pills, around 84 million.
The trail leads to the Syrian port city of Latakia – Did Hamas get the drug Captagon from there?
There is a pattern: the cargo is sent from the Syrian port of Latakia and a new waybill is organized at a stopover. Western secret services have linked numerous transport companies in Syria to the Captagon business and Syrian government agencies. These belonged to the 4th Division, which was commanded by the brother of the Syrian ruler, Maher al Assad. However, the drugs come to Saudi Arabia not just by ship, but also by land. In southern Syria, Hezbollah dominates the drug trade, in which more than 120 groups are involved.
What is Captagon?
Captagon is the trade name of the drug fenetylline. The substance is a so-called “co-drug”, also known as a “mutal prodrug”, i.e. two synergistic drugs that are chemically linked to form a single molecule. This is intended to improve the administration properties of one or both drugs. In the case of fenetylline these are theophylline and amphetamine. When the drug is metabolized in the body, this leads to the typical effects of amphetamine, including increased alertness and increased motivation to perform.
Fenetylline was brought onto the German market in 1961 and was used there, among other things, for the medical treatment of ADHD and narcolepsy. In the 1980s, sales of the drug were stopped because of its serious side effects. In 1986 the United Nations added the drug to the list of dangerous drugs and has since been banned in many countries.
The Islamist militia has long been accused by American and European drug authorities of profiting from the drug trade, Britain said BBC. The portal Arab News even accused Hezbollah of turning Lebanon into a narco-state. There are numerous reports that have described connections between parts of the Syrian army and Hezbollah’s protection of drug smugglers. However, Hezbollah itself denies the allegations. The Secretary General made it clear in a televised speech that the production, sale, purchase, smuggling and consumption for religious reasons were prohibited, even in order to “pass the drugs on to the enemy”.
Hamas has already had dealings with Captagon – in March the militia confiscated 50,000 pills
Hamas has also recently made headlines with the substance. The news portal reported on February 21 this year The New Arab that the Palestinian militia had seized 50,000 Captagon pills. At the time, however, the group had accused Israel of smuggling. “Our police officers seized the large quantity of fenethylline, better known as Captagon, hidden in a consignment of goods imported into the Gaza Strip from Israel,” the Hamas-run Gaza Police Department told the press at the time. The accusation was that Israel is flooding the region with drugs “to destroy our youth and contribute to the spread of crimes among the population.”
However, the fact that the organization had already dealt with the drug does not prove beyond doubt that it actually used the substance in its attack on Israel. However, it cannot be ruled out either, as the alleged source of the Italian newspaper could not be verified. Only two Twitter posts could be found that shared the information. But these also did not provide a verifiable source. In addition, the criminologist Wolf-Reinhard Kemper made an interview with the Deutschlandfunk It is clear that there is no evidence that drugs lower inhibitions in every person. Every person has “their very own hormone cocktail”, so the effect varies. (tpn)
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