Legislative Decree No. 66 of 2012 creating two regulatory zones within Damascus governorate, full text on The Syria Report's housing, land and property portal
Source ID
SRC-127
Citation
Legislative Decree No. 66 of 2012 creating two regulatory zones within Damascus governorate, full text on The Syria Report's housing, land and property portal
Archived under D-062 on 16 August 2026 with URL, date, HTTP status, byte count and SHA-256 in research/retrieved/RETRIEVAL_MANIFEST.tsv, and verified there by string search. Raw research/retrieved/decree66-2012-syriareport-ar.html, text research/retrieved/decree66-2012-syriareport-ar.txt, 214183 bytes, SHA-256 ae686bc0d7eeab66c925ace6a3e25268c9bb5e76399fd2da1013197a6c5d52bf. || HELD. Retrieved 1 September 2026 by plain HTTP GET with a browser User-Agent, HTTP 200, 220538 bytes, SHA-256 fec614088562b650..., at research/retrieved/SRC-127_hlp.syria-report.com.html. The capture terminates correctly. THIS ROW PREVIOUSLY CARRIED AN ADDRESS AND NO HELD FILE, so anything it recorded as read could not be checked by anyone; it can now.
Claims
CH4 Decree 66
Status
READ
Version history
The register keeps changing after the book is fixed in print. Each entry below was added to this row in the order shown.
READ AT ARTICLE 32 AND SEARCHED THROUGHOUT, 16 August 2026. SIXTY-FOUR ARTICLES: extracting every article number gives 1 to 64, plus one cross-reference to Article 174 of the Code of Civil Procedure inside Article 9. AND IT CONTRADICTS THE MOST CITED ACCOUNT OF THE HARSHEST CONSEQUENCE IN SYRIAN PROPERTY LAW. SRC-095, Human Rights Watch of 29 May 2018, says those who fail to claim are not compensated and ownership reverts to the province, town or city. ARTICLE 32(b): 'يخضع لأحكام البيع بالمزاد العلني جميع مالكي الأسهم غير المقبولة طلباتهم في الخيارين الأول والثاني وغير المتقدمين لأي خيار من الخيارات الثلاثة' — the shares of those who applied under NONE of the three options go to public auction. ARTICLE 32(ط): the proceeds are paid to those shareholders 'كل ستة أشهر' in proportion to their holdings, after prior charges are cleared. THAT IS NOT FORFEITURE. ARTICLE 32 IS NOT AMONG THE TWENTY-NINE ARTICLES LAW 10 OF 2018 AMENDED, checked against SRC-097's Article 2 list. A forfeiture search across the file for تؤول، يؤول، تنتقل، مصادرة، يسقط، تسقط، لصالح المحافظة، ملكية الدولة، دون تعويض returned nothing of that kind, and Article 6 imposes the thirty-day declaration with no stated consequence for silence. THE LIMIT OF THIS READING, AND THE CHAPTER STATES IT: Article 32 has been read closely and the rest searched by keyword; all sixty-four articles have not been read closely, so the absence of a forfeiture provision elsewhere is not asserted. ALSO HELD: Article 10 on valuation discounting speculative rises; Articles 7 to 9 on the valuation committee, its composition and the finality of its decisions; Article 20 on the zone fund.
ALL SIXTY-FOUR ARTICLES READ ON 18 AUGUST 2026 ON THE AUTHOR'S INSTRUCTION AT D-079, from the held Arabic text at research/retrieved/decree66-2012-syriareport-ar.txt, 35,879 characters. Chapter 4 at its line 231 says 'I have read Article 32 closely and searched the rest for a forfeiture provision without finding one, and I have not read all sixty-four closely, so I do not say there is none.' THE READING IS NOW COMPLETE AND THE CHAPTER MAY SAY IT: THERE IS NO PROVISION FORFEITING THE RIGHTS OF AN OWNER WHO DOES NOT COME FORWARD. ARTICLE 32(B) IS THE OPERATIVE ONE AND IT IS EXPLICIT, VERBATIM: 'يخضع لأحكام البيع بالمزاد العلني جميع مالكي الأسهم غير المقبولة طلباتهم في الخيارين الأول والثاني وغير المتقدمين لأي خيار من الخيارات الثلاثة'. The public auction provisions apply to every shareholder whose application under options one and two was refused AND TO THOSE WHO APPLIED FOR NO OPTION AT ALL. Article 32(ط) then pays them: proceeds are disbursed to shareholders every six months in proportion to their shares, after encumbrances are cleared. So the non-claimant is auctioned and paid, not dispossessed. THE ONE RIGHT-EXTINGUISHING PROVISION IN THE DECREE IS ARTICLE 43(A) AND IT IS ABOUT A DIFFERENT PERSON. Verbatim: 'يقتصر حق المخالفين الذين بنوا فوق أراضي أملاك الدولة العامة أو الخاصة على أخذ أنقاض أبنيتهم ولا يعترف لهم بأي حق سوى ذلك'. Those who built in violation on state land, public or private, are limited to taking the rubble of their buildings and no other right is recognised for them, with alternative housing possible from surplus by executive-office decision. THAT IS NOT THE NON-CLAIMANT AND THE DISTINCTION IS THE WHOLE POINT: the harsh provision exists and it bites on unauthorised building on state land, not on an owner who fails to file. OTHER ARTICLES A LATER PASS SHOULD KNOW ARE THERE. Article 6 gives thirty days from the announcement to declare rights, and 6(b) lets relatives of any degree exercise them on the holder's behalf. Article 9(d) makes valuation committee decisions final and not subject to any means of appeal or review, WHILE ARTICLE 12 GIVES THE COUNCIL OF STATE'S ADMINISTRATIVE JUDICIARY FINAL JURISDICTION WHERE THEY ARE TAINTED BY A LEGAL DEFECT; the two sit in tension and this row does not resolve it. Article 21(b) provides that deductions must not reduce the owners' share below 80 per cent of a square metre for each square metre of land. Article 28(a) gives one year from the final distribution table for shares to be traded. Article 30(g) voids absolutely any post-decree dealing that would let one person hold more than a single plot. Article 43(c) gives an actual occupying tenant under Law 111 of 1952 a share equal to 30 per cent of the assessed value for residential occupation and 40 per cent for commercial. Article 44(e) sets the annual rent allowance at 5 per cent of the assessed value of the unit to be vacated. Article 62 lets the Prime Minister extend the decree by decision to any regulatory zone within Damascus governorate or its vital surroundings. Article 64 provides for publication in the Official Gazette, and the decree is dated Damascus 1-11-1433H, 18 September 2012, over the signature of Bashar al-Assad.
AMENDED 18 AUGUST 2026 ON BLOCKER 1 AND HIGH 1 OF THE SECOND REMEDIATION DIFF REVIEW, AND THE ROW CARRIED HALF OF ARTICLE 21 WHILE A PASS ARGUED FROM IT. TWO ADDITIONS, BOTH READ AT research/retrieved/decree66-2012-syriareport-ar.txt ON 18 AUGUST 2026. FIRST, ARTICLE 21(A) HAS TWO DEDUCTION LIMBS AND THIS ROW RECORDED ONE. Limb 1 is the public works already recorded. LIMB 2, VERBATIM: 'المقاسم المخصصة لمحافظة دمشق لإشادة مبان للمنذرين بالهدم وذوي الدخل المحدود والسكن الاجتماعي وتغطية النفقات المذكورة في المادة 19' — the plots allocated to Damascus governorate to erect buildings for those warned of demolition, for the low-income and for social housing, AND TO COVER THE EXPENSES SET OUT IN ARTICLE 19. Article 19(b) makes those expenses very large: zoning and studies, execution of infrastructure and public utilities, eviction compensation, all rent allowances due to occupants under Article 44, fair rents, the costs of public auction, committee compensation, the fees of experts and contractors and of contracts for survey and technical work, gratuities, BANK INTEREST, and all expenses necessary to preserve the zone and develop the city. A DEDUCTION OF LAND TO FUND THE GOVERNORATE'S OWN COSTS IS A DIFFERENT KIND OF TAKING FROM A DEDUCTION FOR A PUBLIC PARK. SECOND, ARTICLE 21(B) DOES NOT END WHERE THIS ROW AND A v14 BASIS FIELD ENDED IT. The full text: 'يجب ألا تؤدي الاقتطاعات المبينة في البندين 1-2 السابقين من هذه المادة إلى انخفاض نسبة المساحة المخصصة لمالكي المنطقة التنظيمية عن مساحة 80 بالمئة م2 لكل واحد متر مربع من الأرض ولمحافظة دمشق رفع عامل الاستثمار التكثيف لتحقيق هذه النسبة.' THE CLAUSE OMITTED WAS THE LAST ONE: and Damascus governorate may raise the investment, that is densification, factor to achieve this proportion. WHAT FOLLOWS FOR WHAT MAY BE WRITTEN, AND IT IS A BAR. 21(b) is a FLOOR ON WHAT THE OWNERS AS A CLASS ARE ALLOTTED and therefore a CAP on what may be deducted; it is not a statement that a fifth is taken. The article says the deduction is of all the land necessary for the listed works ACCORDING TO THE GENERAL AND DETAILED ZONING PLAN, so how much is taken on any given plan is not in the instrument. NO SENTENCE MAY PRINT A QUANTUM INFERRED FROM THE FLOOR. AND THE FLOOR IS COLLECTIVE: it protects 'نسبة المساحة المخصصة لمالكي المنطقة التنظيمية', the proportion allotted to the owners OF THE ZONE, where Article 22(a) makes the zone a legal person replacing all owners and 22(c) makes every owner-allotted plot commonly owned among them. A per-owner reading of the floor is wrong twice, and the densification clause means the ratio can be satisfied by building higher rather than by taking less.