Reports

This report is the first part of a two-part publication that will provide an overview of Syria’s relations with former Soviet Republics. This first part will address Syria’s ties with the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and Eastern Europe (Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova), while the second will focus on Syria's ties with the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia) and Central Asian countries (Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan). 

Syria has four large industrial cities located near Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, and Deir-ez-Zor. The government built them to attract large-scale industrial projects, increase exports of high-value-added industrial products and create employment opportunities.

The following updated and expanded report describes the main components of Iranian-Syrian economic relations. The first two sections will examine trade and economic and business relations between the two countries prior to and following the 2011 conflict. The third will provide an overview of Iranian involvement in a variety of sectors, while the fourth will elaborate on Iran's growing economic foothold in the country since 2020. Finally, the fifth section will provide insight into the prospects of Iranian-Syrian relations.

This report provides an overview of Syria’s railway sector from the early 2000s until today. It sheds light on the sector prior to the Syrian uprising; the many projects that coincided with President Bashar Al-Assad’s ambition of transforming the country into the region’s transport hub; the damages to the sector caused by the decade-long conflict; and the challenges to the sector’s reconstruction.

This report will shed light on the economic relations between Syria and the UAE prior to 2011 and will trace the evolution of the bilateral relationship during the first half of the Syrian conflict. It will also focus on the path towards normalisation that has taken place in recent years, providing an overview of the business and economic ties since 2018 and covering the political and diplomatic developments that have taken place in the past six months.

This report provides an overview of the phosphate sector prior to and following the Syrian conflict. It also sheds light on various projects, both implemented and abandoned, in the phosphate industry; the competition between Iran and Russia over the potentially lucrative sector; and the implications of the privatisation of Syria’s phosphate industry.

Prior to the uprising, China was a major trade partner of Syria and had investments in the country, especially in its petroleum sector. Although trade increased following the 2011 conflict, Chinese companies largely withdrew from the market. Meanwhile, the Chinese government played a quiet but supportive role for Syrian authorities

In the decade before the 2011 conflict, Syria sought to further deepen its regional economic and energy integration, becoming involved in a number of international pipeline projects, foremost the Arab Gas Pipeline.

Although, historically, political differences have often driven a wedge between Damascus and Amman, shared economic interests have frequently spurred rapprochement between the two countries.

Although Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has declared victory after more than a decade of war, Damascus controls only ten out of at least 31 official border crossings.

Syria’s relations with South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Crimea are a subset of its relations with Russia – Damascus’s primary political and military backer during the conflict.

This 2,200-word report provides a profile of the Commercial Bank of Syria, the country's largest lender, whose history goes back to the Ottoman Empire and which is now under western sanctions.

In this 2,800-word report we provide an overview of Syria's wheat sector and of the challenges it faces.

Updated on September 28: In this 4,400-word report, we provide a profile of the main businesses and economic institutions affiliated with the Syrian Ministry of Defence.