The Damascus municipality recently announced that 50 additional hectares of land would be deducted from Harasta, a city just northeast of Damascus, and annexed to the new organisational plan of Qaboun, an adjacent suburb of Damascus, in accordance with the controversial Law 10.

The Syrian government has continued its campaign against Rami Makhlouf, effectively ending the operations of two more of his best-known business ventures, including his oldest and most recent ones, within a couple of days.

The government has once again extended the bidding deadlines for six power projects after failing to attract contractors and funding. However, two small turbines in Banias and Deir-ez-Zor have been rehabilitated.

The Damascus Countryside governorate has granted a 3.5-hectare property to an unidentified investor as part of a contract to build an alternative-energy bus station outside the capital. But the plan does not seem realistic in light of technical and logistical constraints.

Government forces, including some affiliated with Iran, have taken positions in civilian houses in the Yarmouk Basin area, preventing some residents from returning to their villages years after Islamic State-aligned fighters were defeated. The area is in the western countryside of the Daraa governorate and is of strategic importance because it is located along the Israeli border.