Syria Announces 200 Percent Public Sector Wage, Pension Increase
FILE PHOTO: Bundles of Syrian currency notes are stacked up as an employee counts money at Syrian central bank, in Damascus,Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
Syria Announces 200 Percent Public Sector Wage, Pension Increase
FILE PHOTO: Bundles of Syrian currency notes are stacked up as an employee counts money at Syrian central bank, in Damascus,Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
Syria announced on Sunday a 200 percent hike in public sector wages and pensions, as it seeks to address a grinding economic crisis after the recent easing of international sanctions.
Over a decade of civil war has taken a heavy toll on Syria's economy, with the United Nations reporting more than 90 percent of its people live in poverty.
In a decree published by state media, interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a "200 percent increase to salaries and wages... for all civilian and military workers in public ministries, departments and institutions.”
Under the decree, the minimum wage for government employees was raised to 750,000 Syrian pounds per month, or around $75, up from around $25, AFP reported.
A separate decree granted the same 200 percent increase to retirement pensions included under current social insurance legislation.
Last month, the United States and European Union announced they would lift economic sanctions in a bid to help the country's recovery.
Also in May, Syria's Finance Minister Mohammed Barnieh said Qatar would help it pay some public sector salaries.
The extendable arrangement was for $29 million a month for three months, and would cover "wages in the health, education and social affairs sectors and non-military" pensions, he had said.
Barnieh had said the grant would be managed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and covered around a fifth of current wages and salaries.
Syria has some 1.25 million public sector workers, according to official figures.
Report: Lebanon’s Offer for Direct Talks with Israel Falls on Deaf Earshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5250928-report-lebanon%E2%80%99s-offer-direct-talks-israel-falls-deaf-ears
A fireball erupts from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese village of Abbasiyeh on March 13, 2026. (AFP)
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Report: Lebanon’s Offer for Direct Talks with Israel Falls on Deaf Ears
A fireball erupts from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese village of Abbasiyeh on March 13, 2026. (AFP)
Israel has rebuffed a historic offer of direct talks from Lebanon, deeming it too little too late from a government that shares its goal of disarming Hezbollah but cannot act against the heavily armed Lebanese group without risking a civil war.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun expressed the state's willingness to begin direct negotiations with Israel this week, seeking to secure an end to the conflict that erupted on March 2 when Hezbollah entered the regional war in support of its patron Iran.
Two sources familiar with Aoun's position said he has begun appointing a negotiating delegation and in some private meetings, he went as far as to say he was ready to move toward normalizing ties.
"Everything is on the table," a third source familiar with his position told Reuters, when asked about normalization.
The Lebanese state's stance reflects unprecedented levels of domestic opposition to Hezbollah's status as an armed group: the government last week banned the group from military activities.
But with Hezbollah still wielding a powerful arsenal and backed by a significant portion of Lebanon's Shiite community, carrying out the order is easier said than done for a fragile Lebanese state now facing one of its most precarious moments since the 1975-90 civil war.
On Friday, Aoun told United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that he had not received a response to his offer, according to a statement from the presidency.
LEBANON SEEN AS LACKING CREDIBILITY
Just a few years ago, such an offer from a Lebanese president would have been a major diplomatic overture - and a chance for the United States to claim success in ending nearly 80 years of hostilities between the two countries.
But Aoun's proposal generated little interest from either Israeli or US officials, according to the two sources, a Lebanese official and two foreign officials.
The sources all said Lebanon's inability to rein in Hezbollah over the last year and prevent the group's March 2 attack left Beirut with little credibility and nothing tangible to offer at a negotiating table.
Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told the Times of Israel this week that his country was ready for dialogue with the Lebanese government to normalize ties.
"But the current problem is that dialogue with the Lebanese government cannot stop the fire from Lebanese territory," he said.
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told the UN Security Council this week that Israel could not negotiate with Lebanon "while rockets are flying into our northern border."
"The time has come to decide: will Lebanon stick to declarations or actually act?" he said.
Lebanon's presidency, Israel's foreign ministry and the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A State Department spokesperson said the US government regularly communicates with its Lebanese counterparts and does not comment on private diplomatic communications.
US SEES WINDOW AS CLOSED, OFFICIAL SAYS
Over the last year, Lebanese authorities have been treading carefully to confiscate the group's weapons in the country's south.
The moves would have previously been unimaginable, when Hezbollah was at the zenith of its power and exercised immense sway over Lebanon's multi-sectarian political system.
The measures have had mixed results.
Hezbollah was still able to spend months re-arming, even stationing new rockets in southern Lebanon as the Lebanese army said it had secured full operational control of the area.
After the new war started, Lebanese authorities detained around 50 people for carrying arms without a license in southern Lebanon and near Beirut, Lebanese security sources told Reuters, saying the detained men were suspected of being Hezbollah members.
But several were swiftly released after paying a small fine, the sources said.
When Lebanon tried to reach out to US officials this week to make the offer on negotiations, they were rebuffed, a Lebanese official said.
"They said that 2025 was our window to confront Hezbollah and we didn't, so there's nothing they can do now," the official said.
Three people familiar with US policymaking on the Middle East told Reuters that Washington also had little bandwidth to deal with Lebanon given its current war on Iran and was allowing Israel to deal with Lebanon as it saw fit.
WAR WITH ISRAEL, OR WAR AT HOME
Israel still wants to see Lebanese troops dismantle Hezbollah's rocket and drone launch sites and seize the group's weapons, Danon told the Security Council.
The army has avoided directly confronting Hezbollah, worried about inflaming tensions with the Shiite community and fracturing the army, which split during Lebanon's 15-year civil war.
"That is the problem: Lebanon cannot deliver. And I understand that. This is a multi-sectarian society and Lebanon cannot afford to declare war on a community," the Carnegie Middle East Center's Michael Young told Reuters.
UN Seeks $325 Million for Lebanon as War Displaces 800,000 Peoplehttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5250900-un-seeks-325-million-lebanon-war-displaces-800000-people
In this photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets with United National Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, at the presidential place in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, March 13, 2026. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)
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UN Seeks $325 Million for Lebanon as War Displaces 800,000 People
In this photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets with United National Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, at the presidential place in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, March 13, 2026. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)
The United Nations launched a $325 million flash appeal on Friday to help Lebanon cope with the fallout of a war that has forced more than a seventh of its population from their homes.
"Solidarity in words must be matched by solidarity in action," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said as he announced the campaign from Beirut.
Israel launched an offensive against Hezbollah last week after the Iran-backed Lebanese group opened fire on it on March 2, saying it was avenging the killing of Iran's supreme leader.
Hezbollah has kept up daily rocket and drone attacks, while Israel has expanded its ground operations and air strikes, bombing the capital on Thursday along with other parts of the country on Friday.
Nearly 700 people have been killed in the attacks and more than 800,000 displaced by Israel's orders for people to leave ever larger swathes of Lebanon.
But aid organizations say funding constraints have already forced them to ration supplies and that substantial new contributions are essential.
"We're only targeting those who are really on the verge of starvation or in starvation," said Carl Skau, the World Food Program's deputy executive director.
"There isn't any more margin, so with needs going up, resources will have to come up - and they can certainly not drop," Skau told Reuters.
'TIGHT FUNDING LANDSCAPE'
Humanitarian organizations say global crises have restricted their response in Lebanon, a country already hit hard by a 2019 economic collapse, the 2020 Beirut port explosion and the 2024 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
Skau said the WFP fears donor governments will face new budget constraints following the spike in global energy prices triggered by the Iran war.
The UN's refugee agency UNHCR last September said it had only received 25% of the resources required for Lebanon in 2025, forcing it to slash cash assistance programs.
"The current spike or the current escalation of hostilities compounds an already tight funding landscape," said Kirollos Fares, Lebanon country director at humanitarian organization Medair.
Aid group Solidarités International had already seen a drop in both the number and size of grants, said Lebanon country director Daniele Regazzi.
“...Unless fresh money comes out, what we are deploying now as emergency response...will be gone in the next roughly couple of weeks," he said.
Israel Threatens ‘Increasing Price’ for Lebanon as UN Urges Ceasefirehttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5250895-israel-threatens-%E2%80%98increasing-price%E2%80%99-lebanon-un-urges-ceasefire
Israeli soldiers work on the belts for their tanks at a staging area in the Upper Galilee in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon on March 13, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Threatens ‘Increasing Price’ for Lebanon as UN Urges Ceasefire
Israeli soldiers work on the belts for their tanks at a staging area in the Upper Galilee in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon on March 13, 2026. (AFP)
The Israeli defense minister vowed on Friday that Lebanon would pay an "increasing price" in damage to infrastructure in the war with Hezbollah, while the UN urged Israel and Hezbollah to agree to a ceasefire.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when the Tehran-backed militant group attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
Israel on Friday destroyed a bridge over the Litani River between the towns of Zrariyeh and Tayr Falsay, according to state media. The river bisects southern Lebanon, from east to west.
In a statement, the Israeli army described the bridge as a "key crossing" for Hezbollah "from northern to southern Lebanon, to build up its power and prepare for combat".
The attack was the first on Lebanese public infrastructure to be acknowledged by Israel since the start of the Middle East war.
"This is just the beginning and the Lebanese government and the state of Lebanon will pay an increasing price in damage to Lebanese national infrastructure used by Hezbollah terrorists," the Israeli defense minister said on Friday.
He said Lebanon would suffer "loss of territory -- until it fulfills its central commitment of disarming Hezbollah".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he told the Lebanese government that "you are playing with fire if you continue allowing Hezbollah to operate, in violation of your commitment to disarm it".
Warning leaflets are dropped by the Israeli military over Beirut, Lebanon, 13 March 2026. (EPA)
- 'Stop the war' -
UN chief Antonio Guterres called on Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah to "stop the war" at the start of a visit to Beirut on Friday, as Israel expanded its strikes across the country.
"My strong appeal to those parties, to Hezbollah and to Israel, is for a ceasefire to stop the war," Guterres said.
Guterres launched a $325 million humanitarian appeal to support Lebanon as it responds to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people by the war.
Israeli strikes continued on Friday, including an attack that killed eight people in the south Lebanese village of Mieh w Mieh near the port city of Sidon, according to the health ministry.
In the nearby village of Irkey, Mohammad Taqi buried his four daughters, aged six to 13, who were killed in an Israeli strike on Thursday along with five relatives.
"The Israeli enemy says every day that it is targeting infrastructure," he told AFP at the funeral, his head wrapped in a white bandage and his face covered in wounds.
"Is this the infrastructure? Have you seen it?" he asked, gesturing to his daughters' bodies.
"I've lost four daughters. I don't have any others. Zainab, Zahra, Malika and Yasmina," he said, adding that he had also lost his parents, brother, nephew and brother-in-law in the same strike.
This handout picture released by the Lebanese Government Press Office on March 13, 2026, shows Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (R) receiving United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the government palace in Beirut. (Lebanese Government Press Office / AFP)
- Propaganda leaflets -
Hezbollah also launched attacks against Israeli forces on Friday, as part of what it said was a Quds Day operation.
Quds Day is an annual demonstration in support of the Palestinian cause in Iran, on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan.
Overnight Thursday into Friday, the Israeli army carried out new air raids, targeting an apartment near Bourj Hammoud in Beirut's northern suburbs, an area that had remained untouched by the war.
An AFP photographer saw an upper floor of the building with its facade shattered and walls blackened by the strike.
In the eastern town of Bar Elias, an air strike targeted a local official from the Jamaa Islamiya group, killing his two sons, state media said.
Israel's army also renewed its evacuation warnings, including for Beirut's southern suburbs.
On Thursday, it had issued a similar order to residents across a large area about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the Litani River.
The order enlarges the zone in southern Lebanon in which residents have been told to leave to cover more than 40 kilometers from the Lebanon-Israel border.
Israeli planes dropped propaganda leaflets over Beirut on Friday, causing loud booms.
One of the leaflets, addressed to the Lebanese people, said: "You must disarm Hezbollah, Iran's shield" and "Lebanon is your decision, not someone else's".
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