More Companies Shut Down in Syria’s Regime-Run Areas

A general view of Damascus in 2018 (Reuters)
A general view of Damascus in 2018 (Reuters)
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More Companies Shut Down in Syria’s Regime-Run Areas

A general view of Damascus in 2018 (Reuters)
A general view of Damascus in 2018 (Reuters)

Areas controlled by the Syrian regime have witnessed the liquidation of 50 companies in the last three months, reported the government-aligned Al-Watan daily.

This is equivalent to 75% of the total number of companies that have dissolved themselves since the beginning of 2022, which amounted to 79 companies, according to the director of companies at the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection of the regime, Zain Safi.

Al-Watan also said that the owners of the dissolved companies refused to comment to the media about the reasons their businesses were shut down.

Hassan Hazouri, a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics at Aleppo University, believes that the regime’s policies have transformed the Syrian economy from a productive economy to a service economy.

It did that by encouraging sectors such as tourism and trade, at the expense of real production sectors such as agriculture and industry.

Hazouri further criticized Damascus’ ill-considered policies when it comes to resolving economic problems. These policies have ruined the economic standing of Syria further, which prompted an exodus of local businesses.

Moreover, many business owners in Syria were forced to either permanently or temporarily shut down their operations. Those who didn’t sell or liquidate their business, left their company working at minimum capacity.

Last September, Syrian businessman Ayman Bergenjiki, owner of Indomie Syria, announced that the factories producing the instant noodles have permanently ceased operations in Syria. He then reversed this declaration by indicating that it could potentially resume work.

Last week, local media also reported the closure of about 25% of dairy and cheese production workshops and facilities. The closure came as the dollar exchange rate exceeded the threshold of SYP 5,000.

The rise in the dollar exchange rate in Syria has produced market turmoil and a hike in production costs.



UN Envoy Condemns Intense Wave of Israeli Airstrikes on Syria

A Druze woman waves to relatives fleeing violence in Damascus, as they arrive in the buffer zone across from the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on May 3, 2025. (AFP)
A Druze woman waves to relatives fleeing violence in Damascus, as they arrive in the buffer zone across from the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on May 3, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Envoy Condemns Intense Wave of Israeli Airstrikes on Syria

A Druze woman waves to relatives fleeing violence in Damascus, as they arrive in the buffer zone across from the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on May 3, 2025. (AFP)
A Druze woman waves to relatives fleeing violence in Damascus, as they arrive in the buffer zone across from the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on May 3, 2025. (AFP)

The United Nations special envoy for Syria on Saturday condemned an intense wave of Israeli airstrikes as Israel said its forces were on the ground in Syria to protect the Druze minority sect following days of clashes with Syrian pro-government gunmen.

The late Friday airstrikes were reported in different parts of the capital, Damascus, and its suburbs, as well as southern and central Syria, local Syrian media reported. They came hours after Israel’s air force struck near Syria’s presidential palace after warning Syrian authorities not to march toward villages inhabited by Syrian Druze.

Israel’s military spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, wrote on X that the strikes targeted a military post and anti-aircraft units. He also said the Israeli troops in Southern Syria were “to prevent any hostile force from entering the area or Druze villages" and that five Syrian Druze wounded in the fighting were transported for treatment in Israel.

The Israeli military issued another statement later Saturday saying that 12 warplanes carried out dozens of airstrikes targeting infrastructure components and weapons across Syria, including anti-aircraft cannons and surface-to-air missile launchers.

Syria’s state news agency, SANA, reported Saturday that four people were wounded in central Syria, and that the airstrikes hit the eastern Damascus suburb of Harasta as well as the southern province of Daraa and the central province of Hama.

UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir O. Pedersen, denounced the strikes on X.

“I strongly condemn Israel’s continued and escalating violations of Syria’s sovereignty, including multiple airstrikes in Damascus and other cities,” Pedersen wrote Saturday, calling for an immediate cease of attacks and for Israel to stop “endangering Syrian civilians and to respect international law and Syria’s sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, and independence.”

Four days of clashes between pro-government gunmen and Druze fighters have left nearly 100 people dead and raised fears of deadly sectarian violence.

The clashes are the worst between forces loyal to the government and Druze fighters since the early December fall of President Bashar al-Assad, whose family ruled Syria with an iron grip for more than five decades.

Israel has its own Druze community and officials have said they will protect the Druze of Syria and warned armed groups from entering predominantly Druze areas. Israeli forces have carried out hundreds of airstrikes since Assad’s fall and captured a buffer zone along the Golan Heights.

More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria.

Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. In Syria, they largely live in the southern Sweida province and some suburbs of Damascus, mainly in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya to the south.