A family stands in front of destroyed graves in a cemetery in Jobar, Syria, on Dec. 18, 2024. (Credit: Aris Messinis/AFP)
Nearly 14 years of war in Syria devastated the country and left its social fabric in tatters and its infrastructure in ruins. The fall of the Assad regime on Dec. 8 reshuffled the cards in Syria and the region. But, the new authorities, led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and its leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, have inherited a worn-out country that continues to be under international sanctions. They have to deal with structural challenges whose roots, in some cases, predate the popular uprising of 2011. Read more Inside the mind of Ahmad al-Sharaa, Syria’s new leader The scale of devastation is stark. World Bank figures reveal that the Syrian economy plummeted by 84% between 2010 and 2023. Most of the country’s oil and gas wells, roads, electricity grids, farmland and infrastructure have been destroyed. In 2019, the Carnegie Middle East Center...
Nearly 14 years of war in Syria devastated the country and left its social fabric in tatters and its infrastructure in ruins. The fall of the Assad regime on Dec. 8 reshuffled the cards in Syria and the region. But, the new authorities, led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and its leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, have inherited a worn-out country that continues to be under international sanctions. They have to deal with structural challenges whose roots, in some cases, predate the popular uprising of 2011. Read more Inside the mind of Ahmad al-Sharaa, Syria’s new leader The scale of devastation is stark. World Bank figures reveal that the Syrian economy plummeted by 84% between 2010 and 2023. Most of the country’s oil and gas wells, roads, electricity grids, farmland and infrastructure have been destroyed. In 2019, the Carnegie Middle East...