Others

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.

Humanitarian funding requirements for the UN-run programmes for Syria are only a fraction fulfilled, despite the worsening humanitarian situation in the country, according to a senior UN official.

Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has announced that it will restore ties with the Syrian regime, while the E.U.’s strategy for relations with Damascus remains unclear. 

The following interview was conducted by The Syria Report with Jeanne Pryor, USAID’s Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Middle East Bureau whose portfolio includes USAID’s operations in Syria. The interview sheds light on USAID’s approach to early recovery projects in regime- and non-regime-held areas; its efforts to support the private sector in areas outside regime control; and the interagency mechanisms and vetting processes in place to ensure USAID funds are not awarded to sanctioned or regime-affiliated parties.

Over the past few months, the government has held several conferences for expatriates across Syria to encourage Syrians in the diaspora to invest in Syria. Expatriates voiced their demands to the government during the conferences, which saw the presence of Syria’s ministers of interior, foreign affairs, and tourism and representatives from industrial cities and the chambers of commerce and industry.

On July 20, President Bashar Al-Assad appointed and replaced eight governors across the country’s provinces – by far the largest reshuffle since 2020.

The European Union and the United Kingdom sanctioned Syrian security companies and individuals, including well-known businessmen, for their involvement in the Ukrainian and Syrian conflicts.

The Syrian-Algerian Business Council was recently formed amid Algiers’ calls to restore Damascus’ seat in the Arab League.