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  • Politics
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  • Syrian economy

LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
A worker pushes a hand truck past a shop selling spices at the old market in Damascus ahead of the Eid al-Adha holiday on 26 May 2026. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP

Syria’s private-sector workers are finding their voice

Recent strikes show how workers are beginning to use Syria's expanded civic space to make economic and social demands. The government should see this as a warning, but also an opportunity.

Haid Haid 24 June 2026
Eduardo Ramon

The return of Al-Jazira and the question of Syria’s economic renewal

As Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, and Al-Hasakah return to state authority, this resource-rich region re-emerges as a cornerstone of economic recovery

Hussein al-Sharaa 06 February 2026
Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) speaks during the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Riyadh on 29 October 2025. RANIA SANJAR / AFP

Syria's obstacles to investment are many

Ambition is key to recovery, but so is realism about the road ahead. Lingering sanctions, legal ambiguity, poor transparency, and weak institutions continue to deter serious investment.

Haid Haid 20 November 2025
A sheep herder near the Rumaylan military site in northeastern Syria, January 8, 2025 AFP

Resource-rich yet underdeveloped, Syria’s northeast could pay dividends

The land between the Euphrates and Tigris yields oil, water, and wheat, to name but three, yet it has had no infrastructure investment for decades. As a result, it is unproductive. That could change.

Attiya Khalaf Al-Attiya 11 February 2025
Stacks of Syrian pound banknotes are piled on a currency trader's stall at a market in the city of Manbij, currently controlled by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, in the Aleppo province on January 4, 2025. Aaref WATAD / AFP

Sanctions relief alone won’t kickstart Syria's economy

Without a coordinated international effort to lift sanctions, Syria will struggle to secure foreign investment

Léa Eid 10 February 2025
A US dollar note is placed on a stack of Syrian pounds at a market in the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in northeast Syria on September 10, 2019. AFP / Delil SOULEIMAN

Rebuilding Syria's economy will be challenging but comes with reward

Estimates of reconstruction costs range up to $500bn, and most Syrians only get a few hours of electricity per day. The country's priorities are numerous and urgent, but amid the gloom, there is hope.

Abdelkader Hasria 27 January 2025
Dr Maysa Sabrin, Syria's newly-appointed central bank governor Axel Rangel Garcia

Syria becomes first Arab state with woman central bank chief

Maysa Sabrin joins illustrious figures such as Russia's Elvira Nabiullina, Europe's Christine Lagarde, and America's Janet Yellen, proving women heading central banks is no longer a rarity

Toufic Chanbour 16 January 2025
A container crane at the port of Latakia in western Syria on 30 December 2024. Aaref Watad / AFP

Syria’s new rulers to audit Iran loan spending for illegalities

While financial obligations outlive regimes, Damascus may be able to show that some of the $7.6bn in loans from Tehran was spent repressing the Syrian people—and that Iran knew about it

Joseph Daher 31 December 2024
A man looks out to the devastation while clearing rubble and debris from a house at the Yarmouk camp for Palestinian refugees south of Damascus on December 22, 2024. MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR / AFP

Syria begins to piece together a country and economy in ruins

War caused its GDP to fall by 86%, leaving 69% of Syrians impoverished. Regime change brings hope for an economy once one of the Middle East's strongest. This is its story and a look ahead.

Abdulfattah Khattab 24 December 2024
Syrian Red Crescent rescuers attend to displaced people arriving from Lebanon at the Jdeidat Yabus border crossing in southwestern Syria on October 7, 2024. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP

War in Lebanon puts Syria's already struggling economy under further strain

Syria's deep economic reliance on Lebanon, shaped by years of conflict and international sanctions, has made regime-held areas particularly vulnerable to Lebanon's economic and political instability

Haid Haid 13 October 2024
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Al Majalla/Reuters
Politics

Trump's midterm loss opens a window for Iran diplomacy

11, Nov 2026

Both Tehran and Washington have powerful incentives to resolve the conflict through negotiations, but actors on all sides have reasons to derail these efforts

Alex Vatanka
The UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey carries the traditional red budget box as he leaves Downing Street in London on 28 October 2026. Reuters
Business & Economy

Britain's debt squeeze tests the pound’s power

11, Nov 2026

Rising borrowing costs and persistent inflation are narrowing the UK's fiscal room for manoeuvre, exposing the limits of monetary independence

Abdulfattah Khattab
Crew members of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) navy ship Qi Jiguang wave as their ship prepares to dock on 2 August 2026. JUNI KRISWANTO / AFP
Politics

China eyes greater security role in the Red Sea

12, Nov 2026

Beijing has been expanding its base in Djibouti, the tiny state that sits opposite Yemen across the Bab al-Mandab Strait. With numerous other states also in play, this is a region to watch

Charbel Barakat
Pep Boatella
Science & Technology

Climate change is redrawing national borders

10, Nov 2026

Whether it is rivers, glaciers, or sea-level submergence, the implications of rising temperatures are becoming an increasingly urgent issue for states

Alaa Emara
Culture & Social Affairs

Five Arab novels that paint an AI-dominated future

10, Nov 2026

From machines that develop human emotions to societies governed by artificial intelligence, Arab novelists explore the promises and perils of a radically transformed future

Ibrahim Adel

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