One argument recurs constantly in Syrian conversation today, and it is true in much of what it claims: "there are problems, but things are better than they were under Assad". The problem begins the moment it stops describing reality and starts answering every question. This piece separates the question of how far we have come from the question of where we are going, distinguishes rights that need capacity from rights that need only a decision, and sets out a floor of demands that needs no budget and no ten years.
An analysis of the Syrian Ministry of Endowments' plan to reclaim historic waqf properties using Ottoman archives. Explore why reopening century-old title deeds acts as a tax on property confidence, undermining post-conflict reconstruction and urban recovery.
On 21 April 2026 the Damascus Governorate and the Ministry of Tourism launched "Qasyoun Journey", a tourism and heritage megaproject on Mount Qasyoun, prepared by "a team of specialised designers" with no open tender, no published brief, no costing and no impact studies. It is the second time the new Syrian authorities have commissioned a symbolic national asset behind closed doors and framed it as a national gift. This piece tests the official claims, asks whether the public or the investors are being misled, and sets out what a serious course correction would look like.
When Sednaya prison opened in December 2024 it forced an old question into the open: how does a state become a prison, and how do ordinary people end up running it? Drawing on Milgram's obedience studies, Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment and UN and Amnesty documentation of systematic torture in Syria, this essay argues that the answer is not better leaders but better institutions. Syria's real safeguard against another Sednaya is constitutional: separated powers, independent oversight and accountability written into the state itself.
An Energy-as-a-Service Framework for Post-Conflict Syria Executive Summary This document presents a strategic proposal for utility-led distributed energy storage (DES) in post-conflict Syria, structured as an Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) framework. It draws on international evidence from pioneering programmes in the United States, Australia, Lebanon, and other markets, extracting both positive models and cautionary lessons to inform
Military emissions were exempted at Kyoto and made voluntary at Paris, which leaves roughly 5.5 per cent of global emissions, some 2,750 MtCO2e a year, off the world's climate books. Reconstructed from expenditure data, that footprint would rank as the fourth-largest emitter on Earth, ahead of Russia and larger than aviation and shipping combined. This piece reads the full ledger: operations, the industrial supply chain, reconstruction, lost carbon sinks and the capital diverted from climate finance.
Syria’s Fiscal Dilemma Between Monetary Reform and Humanitarian Reconstruction (2025-2026) The Macro-Humanitarian Nexus The abrupt collapse of the former regime in December 2024 served as the primary catalyst for a fundamental restructuring of Syria’s institutional and humanitarian landscape (House of Commons Library, 2026). Under the transitional administration of President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the state has entered
Syria’s Reconstruction: A Blueprint for the Many, Not the Few For generations, Ahmad’s family tended their olive grove on a sun-drenched hill in Syria. The trees were their inheritance and their future, a symbol of peace and permanence. Then the war came and turned it all to ash. Today, Ahmad’s dream isn’t just to replant
In the fragile yet hopeful process of rebuilding a nation, symbols carry immense weight. The recent unveiling of Syria's new visual identity and the plans to issue a new currency represent defining moments. Yet, while these new designs were presented as a symbol of unity, the transitional government has remained silent on a fundamental question: how was the decision actually made?
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