Russia Concedes ‘Syrian Constitution’ to Attract the US

United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen arrives at a hotel in Syria on Saturday. (Reuters)
United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen arrives at a hotel in Syria on Saturday. (Reuters)
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Russia Concedes ‘Syrian Constitution’ to Attract the US

United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen arrives at a hotel in Syria on Saturday. (Reuters)
United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen arrives at a hotel in Syria on Saturday. (Reuters)

The envoys of Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden are expected to meet in Geneva on Wednesday, which will likely outline the shape of Russian-American understandings on Syria for the coming period.

Moscow has succeeded in reaping political concessions, albeit symbolic ones, from Damascus, and imposing “a military status quo” on the ground in wake of the Daraa settlement and recent escalation in Idlib.

These elements will be on the table when the Russian envoy meets his American counterpart with Moscow demanding a “political price” for its efforts.

On Damascus’ end, the “political concession” was its agreement to receive United Nations envoy Geir Pedersen after nearly two months of putting off his visit. The meeting was held after Russia directly intervened and after Iran “advised” Syrian officials to agree to it.

The second breakthrough was the agreement of head of the government delegation to the Constitutional Committee to kick off the UN-proposed efforts to “draft” the new constitution. A sixth round of committee talks will be held in Geneva on October 6.

Damascus had previously said it was upset with Pedersen for agreeing to meet with a Daraa delegation while negotiations were still ongoing between local committees and the regime to avert military escalation. It was also upset with his failure to discuss a regime proposal at the Constitutional Committee. These two factors, however, were forgotten once Russia “advised” Damascus to receive Pedersen.

In return, however, Damascus received UN “silence” over the statement its foreign ministry had issued in wake of the envoy’s meeting. The statement said the talks focused on the “actual developments on the ground in Daraa and the Syrian state’s satisfaction with the solutions that were reached.” It also spoke of “pressuring” the UN to declare a clearer stance on the “unilateral sanctions”, the “Turkish and American occupations”, and “foreign interference.”
As for the new military facts on the ground, they were represented with the regime’s return to Daraa, “the cradle of the revolution”, for the first time in ten years. A western official said this was possible after Russia, the US and Jordan – the parties of the 2018 deal on southern Syria – sponsored the completion of the implementation of the agreement, which calls for the regime’s full return to the region and easing Iran’s influence there.

With calm returning to Daraa, Russia began to escalate its military actions in the northwestern opposition-held Idlib province. This coincided with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declaring that Turkey had “failed to meet its commitments” in northwestern Syria. This was followed by Russian jet strikes on southern Idlib. Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar responded by saying that it was Russia that had failed to meet its promises.

Of course, Moscow is eying in Idlib the reopening of the Aleppo-Latakia highway. It wants the ceasefire to hold, stop the military operations there and root out the extremists. As long as Russia and Turkey are deploying joint patrols in the region, then these goals will likely be met and the ground will be paved for new understandings between them. Perhaps the reopening of the Aleppo-Latakia highway could be exchanged for a Turkish incursion against the Kurds in the region east of the Euphrates.

Ultimately, the Russian escalation in Idlib is aimed at extracting American offers against the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham extremist group that Washington has blacklisted as terrorist.

All these issues and more will be discussed in Geneva between Russian envoy Alexander Lavrentiev and American envoy Brett McGurk. All signals point to Washington leaning towards adopting the Russian reading of the situation in Syria. McGurk’s primary concern would be seeking an alliance of parties seeking to combat terrorism and preventing the resurgence of ISIS, especially in wake of the US pullout from Afghanistan.

He will likely encourage arrangements between Damascus and Qamishli, with Moscow’s guarantees, reduce Turkey’s interest in the region east of the Euphrates and offer incentives to the Russians about funding Syria’s early recovery, providing exemptions from the Caesar Act and fighting terrorism.



To Get Their Own Cash, People in Gaza Must Pay Middlemen a 40% Cut

A destroyed branch of the Bank of Palestine in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City is seen Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP)
A destroyed branch of the Bank of Palestine in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City is seen Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP)
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To Get Their Own Cash, People in Gaza Must Pay Middlemen a 40% Cut

A destroyed branch of the Bank of Palestine in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City is seen Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP)
A destroyed branch of the Bank of Palestine in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City is seen Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP)

Cash is the lifeblood of the Gaza Strip’s shattered economy, and like all other necessities in this war-torn territory — food, fuel, medicine — it is in extremely short supply.

With nearly every bank branch and ATM inoperable, people have become reliant on an unrestrained network of powerful cash brokers to get money for daily expenses and commissions on those transactions have soared to about 40%.

"The people are crying blood because of this," said Ayman al-Dahdouh, a school director living in Gaza City. "It’s suffocating us, starving us."

At a time of surging inflation, high unemployment and dwindling savings, the scarcity of cash has magnified the financial squeeze on families — some of whom have begun to sell their possessions to buy essential goods.

The cash that is available has even lost some of its luster. Palestinians use the Israeli currency, the shekel, for most transactions. Yet with Israel no longer resupplying the territory with newly printed bank notes, merchants are increasingly reluctant to accept frayed bills.

Gaza’s punishing cash crunch has several root causes, experts say.

To curtail Hamas’ ability to purchase weapons and pay its fighters, Israel stopped allowing cash to enter Gaza at the start of the war. Around the same time, many wealthy families in Gaza withdrew their money from banks and then fled the territory. And rising fears about Gaza’s financial system prompted foreign businesses selling goods into the territory to demand cash payments.

As Gaza’s money supply dwindled and civilians’ desperation mounted, cash brokers' commissions — around 5% at the start of the war — skyrocketed.

Someone needing cash transfers money electronically to a broker and moments later is handed a fraction of that amount in bills. Many brokers openly advertise their services, while others are more secretive. Some grocers and retailers have also begun exchanging cash for their customers.

"If I need $60, I need to transfer $100," said Mohammed Basheer al-Farra, who lives in southern Gaza after being displaced from Khan Younis. "This is the only way we can buy essentials, like flour and sugar. We lose nearly half of our money just to be able to spend it."

In 2024, inflation in Gaza surged by 230%, according to the World Bank. It dropped slightly during the ceasefire that began in January, only to shoot up again after Israel backed out of the truce in March.

Cash touches every aspect of life in Gaza

About 80% of people in Gaza were unemployed at the end of 2024, according to the World Bank, and the figure is likely higher now. Those with jobs are mostly paid by direct deposits into their bank accounts.

But "when you want to buy vegetables, food, water, medication -- if you want to take transportation, or you need a blanket, or anything — you must use cash," al-Dahdouh said.

Shahid Ajjour’s family has been living off of savings for two years after the pharmacy and another business they owned were ruined by the war.

"We had to sell everything just to get cash," said Ajjour, who sold her gold to buy flour and canned beans. The family of eight spends the equivalent of $12 every two days on flour; before the war, that cost less than $4.

Sugar is very expensive, costing the equivalent of $80-$100 per kilogram (2.2 pounds), multiple people said; before the war, that cost less than $2.

Gasoline is about $25 a liter, or roughly $95 a gallon, when paying the lower, cash price.

Bills are worn and unusable

The bills in Gaza are tattered after 21 months of war.

Money is so fragile, it feels as if it is going to melt in your hands, said Mohammed al-Awini, who lives in a tent camp in southern Gaza.

Small business owners said they were under pressure to ask customers for undamaged cash because their suppliers demand pristine bills from them.

Thaeir Suhwayl, a flour merchant in Deir al-Balah, said his suppliers recently demanded he pay them only with brand new 200-shekel ($60) bank notes, which he said are rare. Most civilians pay him with 20-shekel ($6) notes that are often in poor condition.

On a recent visit to the market, Ajjour transferred the shekel equivalent of around $100 to a cash broker and received around $50 in return. But when she tried to buy some household supplies from a merchant, she was turned away because the bills weren’t in good condition.

"So the worth of your $50 is zero in the end," she said.

This problem has given rise to a new business in Gaza: money repair. It costs between 3 and 10 shekels ($1-$3) to mend old bank notes. But even cash repaired with tape or other means is sometimes rejected.

People are at the mercy of cash brokers

After most of the banks closed in the early days of the war, those with large reserves of cash suddenly had immense power.

"People are at their mercy," said Mahmoud Aqel, who has been displaced from his home in southern Gaza. "No one can stop them."

The war makes it impossible to regulate market prices and exchange rates, said Dalia Alazzeh, an expert in finance and accounting at the University of the West of Scotland. "Nobody can physically monitor what’s happening," Alazzeh said.

A year ago, the Palestine Monetary Authority, the equivalent of a central bank for Gaza and the West Bank, sought to ease the crisis by introducing a digital payment system known as Iburaq. It attracted half a million users, or a quarter of the population, according to the World Bank, but was ultimately undermined by merchants insisting on cash.

Israel sought to ramp up financial pressure on Hamas earlier this year by tightening the distribution of humanitarian aid, which it said was routinely siphoned off by militants and then resold.

Experts said it is unclear if the cash brokers’ activities benefit Hamas, as some Israeli analysts claim.

The war has made it more difficult to determine who is behind all sorts of economic activity in the territory, said Omar Shabaan, director of Palthink for Strategic Studies, a Gaza-based think tank.

"It's a dark place now. You don't know who is bringing cigarettes into Gaza," he said, giving just one example. "It's like a mafia."

These same deep-pocketed traders are likely the ones running cash brokerages, and selling basic foodstuffs, he said. "They benefit by imposing these commissions," he said.

Once families run out of cash, they are forced to turn to humanitarian aid.

Al-Farra said that is what prompted him to begin seeking food at an aid distribution center, where it is common for Palestinians to jostle over one other for sacks of flour and boxes of pasta.

"This is the only way I can feed my family," he said.