Others

New figures issued by the European Union indicate that Syrian first-time asylum applicants increased in 2022 for the second year in a row, while illegal border crossings nearly doubled year-on-year. 

A Food and Agriculture Organisation project, which represents the first Russia-funded FAO project in Syria, has recently launched operations in Aleppo.

A high-level government delegation visited the Deir-ez-Zor governorate to inaugurate projects worth millions of euros and pounds, highlighting the government’s increased interest in the province.

Two companies based in the United Arab Emirates have settled with the United States over alleged breaches of multiple sanctions programmes. The actions suggest a growing role of UAE-based companies in helping the Syrian regime and businessmen evade sanctions.

The board members of the Syria Recovery Trust Fund recently extended its mandate for two more years and announced new contributions worth millions of euros for early recovery projects in North Syria. 

The UNSC recently approved a “landmark resolution” to introduce humanitarian exemptions across current and future UN sanctions regimes, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and Al-Qaeda sanctions regime.

A few weeks ahead of the cross-border aid vote, a humanitarian convoy recently delivered aid to Idlib through the Saraqeb-Tronba crossing, linking regime-controlled areas to Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham-controlled territories in Northwest Syria.

Since late November, Turkey has been attacking areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria, causing deaths, injuries, and widespread damage to key oil fields, gas plants, power stations, and other civilian infrastructure.

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. 

Official records seen by The Syria Report indicate that two of the largest investments recently announced in Syria are directly linked to the presidential palace.

To further cement its governance, the Syrian Salvation Government, the political arm of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, has begun issuing compulsory identification cards for residents in areas under its control. The cards are required to receive essential services and to conduct any transaction.  

During his first visit to India as a minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Faisal Mekdad met with high-level Indian officials to discuss strengthening bilateral relations and the status of a credit line that India extended to Syria before the conflict. 

At the COP27 conference, the Syrian government predominantly blamed western sanctions, the opposition, and Israel for the challenges it faces in fighting climate change without taking responsibility for its role as a contributor to environmental harm. 

A UN expert recently published a controversial report on the impact of sanctions in Syria and called on sanctioning countries to lift unilateral sanctions against Syria.

The European Union recently announced new restrictive measures against two Syrian-Canadian businessmen and their Damascus-based company for supplying the Syrian Studies and Research Centre with materials used to produce chemical weapons delivery systems.

The head of WHO's Syria office was accused by her staff of abusive behaviour, misdirecting millions of dollars of the UN agency's taxpayer-provided funds, and acting irresponsibly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A high-ranking Hamas delegation recently visited Damascus in the latest instance of Arab rapprochement with Syria. 

The U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control recently settled with two subsidiaries of France’s Crédit Agricole Group over Syria sanctions violations. 

A recently published report has uncovered the methods, routes, and channels used by state and non-state actors in Syria to loot and traffick antiquities.

An opposition-affiliated fund recently received its latest grant from USAID to boost agricultural output in northern Syria.