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Syria's Disaster, and What's Next
Daher, Joseph
http://solidarity-us.org/atc/196/syrias-disaster/Date Written: 2018-09-01 Publisher: Against the Current Year Published: 2018 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX23401 Detailed description of Syrian crisis as of July 2018. Abstract: -- Excerpt: The Assad regime, as it accumulates new military victories and captures new territories with the assistance of its foreign allies, has begun to envision the issue of reconstruction and establish the conditions for stabilizing territories under its control. The cost of reconstruction is estimated at around $350 billion, creating an appetite from national and foreign actors even though the war is unfinished. This situation, however, faces numerous challenges, ranging from the lack of national capital for reconstruction to crony capitalists’ eagerness to expand their wealth, the behavior of the numerous pro-regime militias throughout the country, and finally the continuing existence of salafist-jihadist forces. For Assad, his relatives and the businessmen linked to his regime, reconstruction is a means of consolidating their already acquired powers and re-establishing their political, military, security and economic domination, along with the forced resettlement of populations. This process would also reinforce the neoliberal policies - which helped trigger the popular uprising in 2011 - of a heavily indebted regime that does not have the capacity to finance reconstruction on its own. Subject Headings |