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  • Politics
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  • Syrian economy
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
The al-Assad government’s embrace of the neoliberal market involves privatisation and subsidy cuts, which are causing widespread suffering and only benefitting the elite Ewan White

Already struggling Syrians brace for more austerity measures

The al-Assad government's embrace of the neoliberal market involves privatisation and subsidy cuts, which are causing widespread suffering and only benefitting the elite

Joseph Daher 15 April 2024
The World Food Programme will have to pull its general assistance for Syria in January, at a time when it is needed in the war-torn country more than ever. Ewan White

Syria crisis compounds as humanitarian aid runs out

The World Food Programme will have to pull its general assistance for the country in January, at a time when it is needed in the war-torn country more than ever

Joseph Daher 20 December 2023
Women buy cosmetics in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakeh on June 12, 2018. AFP

How Syria's war forced women to break the glass ceiling

In the aftermath of war, due to the death, disability and displacement of men, many Syrian women have become the sole providers in their households. This has had a profound impact on Syrian society.

Alhasna Adra 15 December 2023
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The "Unity of Position" conference, held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Hasakah on August 8, 2025. Social media
Politics

Heading for a showdown? SDF conference riles Damascus

13 August 2025

Syria's government needs to centralise decision-making and bring armed groups to heel, but Kurds in the north-east want to establish a 'coalition of the unwilling' with Druze and Alawites. What now?

Subhi Franjieh
Laura Salafia
Profiles

Tom Barrack: the businessman with a huge Middle East remit

08 August 2025

Donald Trump's ambassador to Türkiye and envoy to Syria has been having some critical conversations in regional capitals since April, from disarming Hezbollah to preventing another war with Israel

Omer Onhon
Demonstrators raise placards during an anti-government rally calling for action to secure the release of Israeli captives in Gaza near the defence ministry in Tel Aviv on August 12, 2025. Jack GUEZ / AFP
Politics

Israelis are finally fed up with Netanyahu's endless war on Gaza

14 August 2025

The gulf between the political and military establishments is widening. Politicians speak of a delayed victory, but military leaders warn of an inescapable quagmire.

Ziad Al Halabi
Al Majalla
Business & Economy

How Saudi Arabia harnessed its oil boom to foster development

14 August 2025

The first in a two-part series explains how the country capitalised on its black gold decades ago to expand its economy horizontally, a stunning success that paved the way for Vision 2030

Hussein al-Sharaa
US President Donald Trump (C), Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (L) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan display the agreement they signed in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 8, 2025. ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP
Politics

A new Trump-sponsored link in the South Caucasus causes a stir

11 August 2025

The Zangezur Corridor, a route through Armenia linking Azerbaijan and Türkiye, will be built and managed by Americans and will pass along the Iranian border, creating winners and losers

Omer Onhon

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