Others

In the last week, active fighting between the Syrian army and Kurdish-led Interior Security Forces (Asayish) in two Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods in Aleppo has deepened the divide between Damascus and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), further derailing the already stalled negotiations to implement the March 10 agreement. This violent turn lays bare the inability of Damascus and Kurdish-led forces over the last ten months to find a middle ground between the centralisation approach of Damascus and decentralisation demands by the SDF.

The SSG released the first issue of its official gazette as it continues its drive towards institutionalisation. 

Syria's chambers of industry elections resulted in the replacement of two influential regime-affiliated figures by a lesser-known businessman involved in the government’s rapprochement efforts with Arab countries and the United Arab Emirates in particular. 

The Ministry of Industry has decided to establish a Tartous Chamber of Industry, which would entail splitting the Tartous Chamber of Commerce and Industry into two. Tartous would become the fifth Syrian governorate to have separate chambers for commerce and industry.

Last week, security forces of the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria seized nearly 2.5 million captagon pills in their largest drug bust to date. The bust came a few days after the security forces of the Syrian Salvation Government seized four million captagon pills in Idlib. Both shipments were smuggled from areas controlled by the Turkish-backed Syrian Interim Government.

An investigative report by a Washington-based research institute and magazine implicates a French charity, which was an official partner of the French Defence Ministry, in directly funding one of the Syrian regime’s militias.

Jordan has recently announced its war on drugs following rare, violent clashes with drug traffickers who attempted to smuggle captagon into the country from Syria. The announcement may strain trade prospects between the two countries, with new reports already citing long queues of Syrian trucks at the border likely due to stricter inspections. 

A massive data leak at Credit Suisse confirms that former Syrian Foreign Minister and Vice President AbdulHalim Khaddam accumulated enormous wealth during his time as a public servant. The data also shows that Mohammad Makhlouf, the uncle of President Bashar Al-Assad, stockpiled substantial wealth in Credit Suisse owing to his proximity to the ruling family and corrupt dealings.

Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board has released a report uncovering an ISIS arms trade between China, Turkey, and Syria. Three Syrian-born businessmen have been implicated in the trade after selling millions of dollars worth of weapons and defence equipment to ISIS at the height of the organisation’s expansion.

At the end of last year, a Syrian-French businessman was arrested in France for his role in supplying the Syrian government with materials that were used during the August 2013 chemical weapons attacks on the city of Douma and on Eastern Ghouta.

Updated on October 21, 2020: The article, originally published on October 14, has been updated to correct a technical glitch and provide updated election results.

The article we published last week under the title Chambers of Commerce Elections Mark Fading Influence of Businessmen Who Accompanied Bashar’s Rise had one technical glitch.

Official data from the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Protection has indicated an increase in the registration of trademarks in Syria.

A Greek business delegation visited Damascus last week, a rare case of an EU business lobby coming to Syria.

A Russian business delegation visited Damascus late June looking for new trade and investment opportunities.

Some 33 trade exhibitions are planned this year in Syria, according to the state’s trade fairs regulatory body.

A Bulgarian business delegation visited Damascus last week, a rare case of an EU lobby group visiting the Syrian capital.

The United Arab Emirates organized on Sunday probably the most prominent event involving Syrian businessmen outside Syria since 2011.

A business event grouping dozens of Russian investors is set to be held in Damascus next month.

Syrian and Russian investors will meet in the next few weeks to discuss joint investment opportunities.