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Who Will Fund Syrian Reconstruction?
(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Jomana Qaddour - The UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia estimates the cost of postwar reconstruction in Syria to be almost $400 billion, but Syria's public and private sectors are not prepared to take on the challenge. Rather than addressing the crucial task of providing housing to the nearly five million refugees still stuck abroad, current construction efforts center on pro-regime businessmen launching major luxury housing and entertainment projects in the Damascus area. Iran has signed several memorandums of understanding with Damascus, but these are more symbolic than financially significant. Moscow has publicly insisted on being the primary broker of reconstruction. Yet the Kremlin faces its own financial challenges and cannot afford to subsidize large-scale redevelopment. Instead, Russian firms have signed numerous contracts focused on extracting Syria's resources such as for phosphate production and oil and gas fields. EU states have insisted they will not commit reconstruction funds to Syria without tangible political progress. Indeed, they have gone further than the U.S. in sanctioning corrupt Syrian businessmen. While Russia and Iran may have won the military phase of the war, they cannot win the peace so long as they are unable to rebuild Syria. The writer is a Syrian American analyst and doctoral student at Georgetown University Law Center.