Route to recovery

In the good old days, it used to take three hours to travel in a service taxi from Beirut to Damascus. We swooped up Mount Lebanon along the wide Damascus highway through the towns of Aley, Bhamdoun and Sofar before slipping down to the fertile Bekaa Valley and beginning the second climb up the barren Anti-Lebanon range. Down again to the Bekaa Valley and Chatura where we halted at the Laiterie Massabaki for a tubular sandwich of labneh sprinkled with zaatar wrapped in mountain bread before continuing to the border post at Masnaa.

There our passports were examined briefly by immigration, and we were waved through the wide no-mans land until we reached sentry post at Jdeidat Yabous in Syria. There again our passports were reviewed while an officer opened the car’s boot and slammed it shut with a thud. Life was much simpler without the hassle of visas. Carved out of Greater Syria by France, Lebanon retained deep ties to Syria despite occasional spats. Travel and commerce flowed easily.

Apricot and orchards bracketed the road as we neared Damascus which vies with Aleppo by claiming to be the oldest city in the world. The Lebanese taxi dropped us off at the western edge of the city where we picked up a Syrian taxi to enter the broad boulevards the French bequeathed to this splendid city.

My Syrian best friend Sawsan remarked on the cleanliness of the streets – in contrast to littered Beirut. Years earlier, her father had been governor of Damascus district and had tolerated neither litter nor corruption. We stayed in her family’s modest three-bedroom home with a garden tended by her mother. Her engineer father earned a living in Saudi Arabia.

So much has happened to Damascus, Aleppo, Syria and the region since then. Wars with Israel and the rise of the Palestinian resistance. In Syria coups and counter coups with martial music heralding “Communique Number One.” The Cold War between East and West aligned Syria with the Soviet Union. The advent in 1970 of domineering air force chief Hafez al-Assad whose son Bashar ruled from 2000 until Dec. 8, 2024. The 2003, US war with Iraq and the emergence of Daesh and similar movements.

With the new millennium, the Assad government began to transition away from a Soviet style central economy and in 2010 Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Dardari formally proclaimed the Social-Free-Market system. The free market was implemented but not social programmes benefitting the poor who dwelled on the edges of the cities. During that year, Syria had an influx of 8 million tourists, 11 million were predicted for 2011 by the ministry of tourism. The ministry was training Syrians on hotel management and customer service to gear up to become a major tourist destination for Europeans and Asians as well as Arabs from the Gulf.

In March 2011, Syrians joined the Arab Spring protesters calling for economic and political reform and were met by a harsh crack-down which led to years of civil conflict and division. Syria was divided into three regions: the northwestern Idlib district held by Turkey-backed rebels, the northeastern area, amounting to 25 per cent of the country, which had become an autonomous zone protected by the US-sponsored Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, and areas loosely under the Assad government in Damascus. Additionally, the Druze who were the majority in Suweyda district ran their own affairs without splitting from Damascus.

Can Syria return to the good old days? Comfortable in itself and a stable centre in an increasingly challenged region. The old Syria is a Syria to strive for not the Syria of strife. The first positive move was Donald Trump’s decision to lift punitive US sanctions on Syria now that the Assads are gone and a interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has assumed the top office. A great deal depends on Sharaa himself who has had to change from being commander of Hay ‘at Tahrir al-Sham, the fundamentalist revolutionary movement backed by Turkey that ousted the Assads.

He is an unlikely figure to unite Syrians in the monumental effort to reconstitute Syria as a secular state where Sunnis, Shias, Druze, Kurds, Circassians, and Alawites are represented in governance, reconstruction, and economic renewal. He will need the backing of Europe and the US in this, Syria’s greatest challenge in the modern era. Sharaa and his team must fuse Syria into a unit enjoyding sovereignty and territorial integrity. Syria’s forever enemy, Israel will do its best to act as spoiler as Israel sees a strong, confident Syria as a competitor for US attention. Ever since it emerged in 1948, Israel has wanted Syria to break into sectarian mini states.

Syria’s central bank governor Abdulkader Husrieh told “Al Monitor” website that the end of sanctions imposed by the US and Europe could “open doors for Syria to rebuild and re-engage with the global community in a meaningful way... This announcement, while just one step, feels like it could be the beginning of something positive.” Before taking up this job, Husrieh was a partner at Ernst & Young accountants, based in Canada and the United Arab Emirates. Once sanctions are lifted, Syria could gain access to the international financial system. unlock frozen assets and enable Syria to deal with global financial institutions, he stated. This would include the World Bank as Saudi Arabia and Qatar have repaid Syria’s debt of $15.5 million.

“We are pleased that the clearance of Syria’s arrears will allow the World Bank Group to reengage with the country and address the development needs of the Syrian people,” the bank announced. “After years of conflict, Syria is on a path to recovery and development.” The bank’s priority plan will focus on restoring electricity, a driver of reconstruction and development. The International Monetary Fund is also becoming engaged in the effort to reconstitute Syrian financial institutions. The UAE’s DP World has signed a $800 million memorandum of understanding to develop, manage, and operate a multitask terminal at Tartous port.

Syria counts on wealthy Syrian expatriates to return and invest in local businesses and Gulf states to help finance Syria’s war-damaged infrastructure. This can only take place when Sharaa restores security, initiates political reforms which will ensure participation of all communities, and reassures external actors that Syria is on the route to recovery.

Photo: TNS