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The Financial Viability of the Assad Regime in Syria
(Security Studies Group) Matthew Brodsky - The Syrian civil war destroyed 3/4 of the national economy. Syria's foreign exchange reserves declined from $21 billion in 2010 to less than $1 billion by 2015. Assad benefited from Iran's financial windfall as a result of the implementation of the Iran deal, which translated into a marked increase in Iranian defense spending and the funding of its foreign military campaigns. Iran's military spending ballooned to $23 billion in 2017, representing 22% of government spending compared to 17% in 2014. Iran spends $15-$16 billion per year to maintain the Assad regime and has extended a credit line of $6.6-9 billion from the state-run Export Development Bank of Iran. Since Assad lacks the financial means to directly pay for the support he receives from Iran and Russia, he has turned to offering them business and resource development contracts and lucrative land leasing opportunities. The writer is a senior fellow at the SSG.