Major blow to his armed forces Lebanon against drug cartels: the army arrested on Thursday (20.11.2025) Nuh Zeiter, the most powerful baron drugs of the country, in an operation carried out in the Bekaa Valley, near the border with Syria, according to a military source cited by AFP.
The arrest was made in the Waalbek region of Lebanon, a historical stronghold of drug production and trafficking networks.
A terror for years, Zeiter ran a veritable criminal empire specializing in the production and smuggling of captagon, a stimulant type of amphetamine widely consumed in the Middle East. Lebanese justice had issued dozens of arrest warrants against him and sentenced him in absentia to several prison terms.
A trafficker at the center of a cross-border network
In 2023, the United States and the European Union had sanctioned Zeiter, as well as two cousins of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, for their central role in the regional captagon trade between Lebanon and Syria. According to France’s General Directorate of Finance, the Lebanese baron maintained close ties with members of the Assad family and was actively involved in exporting the substance to major Gulf markets, with Saudi Arabia being the main destination.
Born in 1977 into a powerful Bekaa family, Zeiter didn’t hide much. He had given several interviews to the media — including AFP — speaking openly about his illegal activities.
His arrest is a major milestone for Lebanese authorities, who are seeking to prove they can tackle criminal networks in a country wracked by corruption, economic collapse and the influence of armed groups.