Despite its military withdrawal, Syria continues to control the opium trade in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. A leading U.S. expert with links to the American intelligence community said the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has maintained control over most revenues from neighboring Lebanon. Gary Gambill, an analyst with Freedom House, said the Assad regime continued to benefit from the illegal heroin production and trade in the Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border. "The Assad regime is not yet in trouble," Gambill wrote in an analysis for Middle East Forum. "Syrian troops may no longer be in Lebanon, but none of its most important Lebanese revenue streams have been cut. Drug producers in the Bekaa Valley and corrupt bankers in Beirut will continue paying off the Syrians as long as Damascus can guarantee that the authorities in Beirut leave them alone." Gambill said Syrian farmers continued to smuggle produce into Lebanon with help from the Assad regime. He said most Syrian workers -- estimated at nearly 1 million -- remained in Lebanon.