Less than a month after sanctioning four Iran-backed militias in Iraq, Washington imposed a new wave of sanctions that targeted Iraqi officials and state institutions accused of laundering money for Tehran’s government.

The new Syrian state continues to intensify efforts to cut all arms supply lines from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon and to shut them down completely, given their impact on the country’s stability.

A deep-rooted network of corruption and smuggling in Lebanon’s pharmaceutical sector has flooded the market with counterfeit medicines, seriously endangering public health.

Although the regime of Bashar al-Assad, which oversaw drug production and smuggling, has fallen, remnants of his networks are still active and continue to pose a threat to Syria’s neighbors, especially Jordan.

The Syrian-Lebanese border, a hotspot for smuggling under Assad's regime, prompted the Syrian Border Security Administration to launch a campaign on February 6, 2025, to crack down on illicit trade.