Syria's post-war economic recovery will require 'substantial' international support, IMF says
Syria will need 'substantial international" support for its efforts to rehabilitate the economy, meet urgent humanitarian needs, and rebuild essential institutions and infrastructure, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday.
Syria cannot afford hundreds of billions of dollars of damages and losses from the conflict that first started as protests in 2011 against former President Bashar Assad 's totalitarian government.
Since current President Ahmad al-Sharaa led an insurgency that ousted the Assad dynasty in December 2024, countries have gradually restored ties with Syria.
During a five-day visit by the IMF in early June — the first to Syria by the 191-country lending organization since 2009 — its team met with officials from the public and private sectors, notably the finance minister and central bank governor.
'Syria faces enormous challenges following years of conflict that caused immense human suffering and reduced its economy to a fraction of its former size,' the IMF said. 'While the years of conflict and displacement have weakened administrative capacity, staff at the finance ministry and central bank demonstrated strong commitment and solid understanding.'
Some 6 million people fled Syria during the conflict, and the United Nations estimates that 90% of those who stayed lived in poverty and relied on humanitarian aid to survive. Half a million people were killed in the conflict.
Damascus now anticipates investments and business projects with Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and others, as they reestablish flight paths and hold high-level political and economic meetings.
U.S. President Donald Trump said that Washington will lift decadeslong sanctions against Syria, but it is unclear how long that process could take. Britain and the European Union had eased some restrictions.
Meanwhile, oil-rich nations Saudi Arabia and Qatar paid off Syria's debt to the World Bank, valued at near $15 billion.
The IMF said it is developing a roadmap for Syria's policy and capacity building priorities for key economic institutions, including the finance ministry, central bank, and statistics agency.
But Syria has a laundry list of reforms it must undertake, including improving its tax collection system, making sure its national budget can pay public sector salaries and basic healthcare and education, empowering the central bank to take measures to bring back confidence to the local currency, and rehabilitate its outdated and battered banking system in line with international standards.
In 2017, the United Nations estimated that rebuilding Syria would cost about $250 billion. Since Assad was overthrown, some experts say that number could be as high as $400 billion.
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The Independent
39 minutes ago
- The Independent
Hamas says it killed 12 Israeli-backed fighters. Israeli-supported group says they were aid workers
A unit of Gaza 's Hamas-run police force said it killed 12 members of an Israeli-backed militia after detaining them early Thursday. Hours earlier, an Israel-supported aid group said Hamas attacked a bus carrying its Palestinian workers, killing at least eight of them. The militia, led by Yasser Abu Shabab, said its fighters had attacked Hamas and killed five militants but made no mention of its own casualties. It also accused Hamas of detaining and killing aid workers. It was not immediately possible to verify the competing claims or confirm the identities of those killed. The Israeli military circulated the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation 's statement on its social media accounts but declined to provide its own account of what happened. Separately, at least 13 people were killed and 170 wounded when Israeli forces fired toward a crowd of Palestinians near a GHF food distribution site in central Gaza, according to the al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. The military said it fired warning shots overnight at a gathering that posed a threat, hundreds of meters (yards) from the aid site. Internet and phone lines were meanwhile down across Gaza, according to telecom provider Paltel and the Palestinian telecoms authority. They said a key line was severed during an Israeli operation and that the military would not allow technicians into the area to repair it. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports. Previous blackouts have deepened Gaza's isolation and made it difficult for people to call first responders after airstrikes. Aid initiative already marred by controversy and violence The aid group's operations in Gaza have already been marred by controversy and violence since they began last month, with scores of people killed in near-daily shootings as crowds headed toward the food distribution sites inside Israeli military zones. Witnesses have blamed the Israeli military, which has acknowledged firing only warning shots near people it said approached its forces in a suspicious manner. Earlier this week, witnesses also said Abu Shabab militiamen had opened fire on people en route to a GHF aid hub, killing and wounding many. The United Nations and major aid groups have rejected the Israeli and U.S.-backed initiative, accusing them of militarizing humanitarian aid at a time when experts say Gaza is at risk of famine because of Israel's blockade and renewed military campaign. Last week, Israel acknowledged it is supporting armed groups of Palestinians in what it says is a move to counter Hamas. Abu Shabab's militia, which calls itself the Popular Forces, says it is guarding the food distribution points set up by the Israeli- and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in southern Gaza. Aid workers say it has a long history of looting U.N. trucks. GHF has denied working with the Abu Shabab group. 'They were aid workers' The foundation said Hamas had attacked a bus carrying more than two dozen of its local Palestinian aid workers near the southern city of Khan Younis, killing at least eight and wounding others. It said it feared some had been taken hostage. 'We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms,' it said. 'These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons, and friends, who were risking their lives everyday to help others.' Rev. Johnnie Moore, a Christian evangelical advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump who was recently appointed head of GHF, called the killings 'absolute evil' and lashed out at the U.N. and Western countries over what he said was their failure to condemn them. 'The principle of impartiality does not mean neutrality. There is good and evil in this world. What we are doing is good and what Hamas did to these Gazans is absolute evil,' he wrote on X. Israel and the United States say the new system is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid from the long-standing U.N.-run system, which is capable of delivering food, fuel and other humanitarian aid to all parts of Gaza. U.N. officials deny there has been any systematic diversion of aid by Hamas, but say they have struggled to deliver it because of Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of law and order in Gaza. U.N. officials say the new system is unable to meet mounting needs, and that it allows Israel to use aid as a weapon by controlling who has access to it and by essentially forcing people to relocate to the aid sites, most of which are in the southernmost city of Rafah, now a mostly uninhabited military zone. Some fear this could be part of an Israeli plan to coerce Palestinians into leaving Gaza. Hamas says it killed traitors Hamas has also rejected the new system and threatened to kill any Palestinians who cooperate with the Israeli military. The killings early Wednesday were carried out by the Hamas-run police's Sahm unit, which Hamas says it established to combat looting. The unit released video footage showing several dead men lying in the street, saying they were Abu Shabab fighters who had been detained and killed for collaborating with Israel. It was not possible to verify the images or the claims around them. Mohammed Abu Amin, a Khan Younis resident, said he was at the scene of the killings and that crowds were celebrating them, shouting 'God is greatest' and condemning those killed as traitors to the Palestinian cause and agents of Israel. Ghassan Duhine, who identifies himself as a major in the Palestinian Authority's security forces and deputy commander of the Abu Shabab group, posted a statement online saying they clashed with Sahm and killed five. He denied that the images shared by Sahm were of Abu Shabab fighters. The Palestinian Authority, led by rivals of Hamas and based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has denied any connection to the Abu Shabab group, but many of the militiamen identify themselves as PA officers. Mounting lawlessness as Israel steps up military campaign Israel renewed its offensive in March after ending a ceasefire with Hamas and imposed a complete ban on imports of food, fuel, medicine and other aid before easing the blockade in mid-May. The ongoing war and mounting desperation have plunged Gaza into chaos, with armed gangs looting aid convoys and selling the stolen food. The Hamas-run police force has largely gone underground as Israel has repeatedly targeted its forces. The military now controls more than half of the territory. The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostage. They are still holding 53 captives, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's military campaign has killed over 55,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half of the dead. It does not say how many of those killed were civilians or combatants. Israel's offensive has flattened large areas of Gaza and driven around 90% of the population of roughly 2 million Palestinians from their homes. The territory is almost completely reliant on humanitarian aid because nearly all of its food production capabilities have been destroyed. ___ Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed. ___
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
World's tallest train station to open as part of new mega £3.6billion rail route expansion
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Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Live Israel ‘ready to strike Iran' over its nuclear programme
Israel is considering launching a military strike against Iran in the coming days without American support, Western officials say. The officials said fears of either no deal or a weak deal between Donald Trump and the Islamic Republic to curtail its nuclear programme had forced Israeli strategists to consider a unilateral attack against Tehran. It comes as the UN nuclear watchdog's board of governors found that Iran had broken its non-proliferation agreement for the first time in 20 years. The governors demanded Iran provide answers 'without delay' in a long-running investigation into uranium traces found at several locations that Tehran has failed to declare as nuclear sites. In response to the ruling, the Islamic Republic said it had no choice but to respond by establishing a new enrichment facility in a 'secure location'. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran will not abandon its right to uranium enrichment because of mounting frictions in the region, adding that a 'friendly' country had alerted Tehran over a potential military strike by Israel.
