Corruption in Ba'athist Syria

According to Transparency International's 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Syria scored a 12 on the CPI on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). When ranked by score, Syria ranked 177th among the 180 countries in the CPI, on a scale where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison with regional scores, the average score among Middle Eastern and North African countries was 39. The best score among Middle Eastern and North African countries was 68 and the worst score was Syria's, 12. For comparison with worldwide scores, the average score was 43, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), and the worst score was 8 (ranked 180). The pervasive nature of corruption in Ba'athist Syria was attributed to the rampant nepotism and favoritism, which created the systemic abuse of power and the misuse of public funds by members of the Ba'ath Party. This practice was institutionalized by the Article 8 of the 1973 Syrian constitution, which declared the Ba'ath Party as the only ruling party. The regime's sole access and control over public resources allowed public officials to divert funds for personal gain. As a result of the failure to address the issue, corruption became deeply entrenched, infiltrating every level of society. == Transnational drug trade ==

Syria was labeled as a narco-state by the United States for nearly a decade until 1997, during the Syrian occupation of Lebanon when they controlled the cannabis cultivation in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon, and were the Middle East region's main source of hashish. During the Syrian Civil War, mass production of drugs within Syria began, and officers fed their men fenethylline, which they called "Captain Courage." those shipments had sometimes millions of pills of fenethylline, which production in the country started since at least 2006. In November 2020, two drug shipments of hashish coming from Syria were seized by Egyptian authorities, the first shipment which arrived to Alexandria, included 2 tonnes of hashish, while the second shipment had 6 tonnes and was found at the Damietta port. The port of Latakia became under scrutiny of European and American police, as being favored by smugglers. In May 2021, Turkish security forces used UAVs to stop 1.5 tonnes of marijuana being smuggled out of Syria. According to the Centre for Operational Analysis and Research (COAR), Syrian seized drugs in 2020 had the value of no less than $3.4bn. == Notes ==