A selection of reports, papers and articles on Syria.

In this 2,300-word factsheet we provide a profile of Samer Foz, who in the space of the past two years has risen to become Syria’s most powerful investor.

Since it was established in 2016 to develop the Marota City development, Damascus Cham has established various joint ventures with private investors. Here is their list.

Samer Foz is continuing to expand the scope of his activities as he sets-up a private airline and becomes the agent of a global commercial vehicles manufacturer.

A British petroleum company has confirmed that oil continues to be extracted from its fields in northern Syria despite western sanctions.

Rami Makhlouf is now involved in the controversial Marota City real estate development in the Mazzeh District of Damascus.

Damascus’ landmark Four Seasons Hotel is now the property of one of the country’s most powerful businessmen.

The Syrian financial markets regulator has revoked the license of several investment banks, some of them regional institutions, which had already suspended their operations in Syria or never started them.

Syriatel and MTN-Syria have announced a new increase in their revenues last year as they continue to be important contributors to the government’s finances.

AbdulRahman Al-Attar, one of the most prominent business figures of the Assad era, both father and son, passed away last week at the age of 80.

Egyptian President AbdulFattah Al-Sisi inaugurated last week near Cairo a large textile plant by one of Syria’s most prominent industrialists, who looks set never to return to his home country.

A Syrian businessman, little heard of until recently, has signed two contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to participate in the development of the controversial Basatin Al-Razi project.

Samer Foz has been granted the right to develop real estate properties worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the Basatin Al-Razi project in Damascus.

Rami Makhlouf established earlier this year yet another company to invest in the Syrian real estate sector.

Samer Foz, the increasingly powerful and visible Syrian investor, is expanding his investment portfolio with a new venture in the pharmaceuticals sector.

Rami Makhlouf has failed in his bid to have his assets in Switzerland unfrozen.

A visit by the Syrian Prime Minister to the coastal area has highlighted the limited capacity of the government to meet the expectations of the population.

Last week, the Government’s reconstruction committee met to discuss for the first time the devising of a broad reconstruction strategy although questions over finance and strategy remain unanswered.

The Syrian Prime Minister has criticized his predecessor for spending 14 billion dollars of foreign currency reserves, while announcing the doubling of a tax dedicated to finance reconstruction.

The Syrian authorities have approved the latest version of a draft law that is supposed to enable the issuance of new property documents for those who have lost them, although the text worries many Syrians.

Syrian companies were awarded dozens of millions of dollars from UN organizations last year including millions that went to companies owned by individuals under western sanctions and linked to regime militias.

The launch of a new car assembly plant in Syria, the second in the space of four months only, has served to highlight the steady rise to prominence of an increasingly powerful businessman.

Several prominent Syrian businessmen, under pressure by the regime, have sold their assets to members of the new business elite, a reflection of how the war is changing the Syrian business landscape.

Cham Holding is expected to conclude a long-term agreement to develop a real estate project for the first time since the beginning of the uprising in 2011.

Starting June 21, Cham Wings will fly to Erevan connecting Armenian Syrians in the two countries.

A British oil company that has rights over oil fields located in northeast Syria has said that production at these fields has increased significantly since the beginning of the year although it receives no revenues from them.

The Syrian government is trying to cancel levies extorted by regime checkpoints as growing protests from traders and transporters alike reflect the exasperation of the population.

The General Court of the European Union has rejected Rami Makhlouf’s legal action to cancel the sanctions imposed on him by the EU.

One of Syria’s main Sharia-compliant banks as well as several individuals and entities affiliated to Rami Makhlouf have been put under sanctions by the U.S. Administration today.

Fly Damas has announced that it will start a weekly route to Suleimanieh in Iraq.

Our article published on April 11 on the freeze of the assets of several proinent businessmen and security official family members included a factual mistake.

The revenues of Syria’s two mobile phone companies surged last year helped by a hike in communication rates imposed by the government.

The Syrian government has revoked the license of two old and prominent charities in Aleppo as its cronies increasingly set their sights on the lucrative NGO business.

Updated on April 20, 2017: The list of investors whose assets were recently frozen by the Syrian government has dozens of prominent names, including family members of prominent security officials.

The Syrian President has sacked Adib Mayaleh, the Minister of Economy, as part of a small government reshuffle, ending the political career of a long-time regime servant.

Nader Qalei, a prominent Syrian businessman and former partner of Rami Makhlouf, has been awarded a long-term contract for the management of a 5-star state-owned hotel.

Two powerful Syrian investors are establishing a company in joint-venture with state entities to bid for potential reconstruction contracts despite an apparent lack of funding.

The attempt by the Syrian government to lure back investors who fled the country is facing resistance from regime cronies, reflecting the obstacles that any serious reconstruction drive will face.

Syriatel has appointed two new directors to its board as it prepares to list in the Damascus Securities Exchange.

Byblos Bank has announced that it was writing off its Syria investment and deconsolidating its operations there.

A new weekly owned by a local businessman has started publishing in Damascus.

Cham Wings, a private airliner, Russian banking executives and Rami Makhlouf-owned companies are among 23 new entities and individuals blacklisted by the American administration.

An Iranian company, in partnership with a leading regime crony, is expected to win the license to operate a mobile phone network in Syria.

A new government report has cast doubts on the actual level of oil production in Syria.

MTN-Syria has announced an increase in its quarterly revenues and a decrease of the licence fees it pays to the government.

Despite the massive destruction of the economy, Syriatel and MTN, the country’s two mobile phone operators, continue to generate significant revenues and profits.

The deputy minister of foreign affairs of the Czech Republic visited Damascus last week in a rare visit by a high ranking European official since the beginning of the uprising.

The destruction of dozens of small cafés and shops located on the seaside of Jableh, apparently to make way to a large real estate development project, has created significant discontent in this coastal town traditionally supportive of the regime.