HLP

After the administration of Raqqa city was transferred to Syria’s transitional authorities in January, urban challenges that had accumulated over the past years became evident. Residents had been relying on themselves to repair their homes, while construction expanded onto agricultural land outside the zoning plan, and informal building was on the rise.

The text of the January 30 agreement between the Syrian transitional government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stipulates “guaranteeing the return of the displaced to their areas” but it does not specify any implementation mechanism, the timeframe, or the body authorised to oversee the return.

More than a year after the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, the city of Deir-ez-Zor continues to suffer from a structural housing crisis due to extensive wartime destruction, without any serious or clear steps by the transitional administration towards rebuilding the destroyed areas.

The city of Nashabiya, in the East Ghouta area of Rural Damascus, is facing an escalating housing crisis, amid the widespread destruction inflicted during years of siege and bombardment, and the absence of any broad plan for reconstruction following the fall of the Assad regime.

The Damascus Governorate, in cooperation with the German development agency (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit - GIZ) and the Jobar Board of Trustees, has inaugurated an HLP Support Unit dedicated to the residents of Jobar, one of the capital’s most heavily destroyed neighbourhoods. The centre is located in Abbasiyyin Square in central Damascus and was officially inaugurated on Monday.

Amid a wave of military confrontations and agreements between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the transitional government forces in January, the areas under SDF control shrank considerably, now mostly confined to the predominantly Kurdish regions in north-eastern Syria. Waves of displacement followed, reshaping the demographic map of the region, after the city of Qamishli and the town of Kobani receiving tens of thousands of displaced people.

This article offers a detailed examination of the subsequent stage of compulsory enforcement, namely the procedures for selling the property at public auction, including the mechanisms of announcement, participation requirements, the conduct of bidding sessions, assignment decisions, and the resulting legal effects on ownership and the rights of creditors and debtors.

Syria’s draft Transitional Justice Law provides for the establishment of a special Compensation Fund for people harmed by violations committed by the Assad regime. This includes those affected by the loss of or damage to their real estate properties. The fund constitutes one of the core tracks of the National Transitional Justice Commission, at a time when questions relating to its sources of funding, mechanisms of operation, and compensation criteria remain under discussion, alongside a larger bet on linking reparations to legislative reform that would prevent a repeat of the housing, land, and property violations of recent years.

Compulsory enforcement against real estate is a legal means used by a creditor to recover a debt established by a final court judgement or a debt instrument. Compulsory enforcement is resorted to in order to strip a property from its debtor owner through the Civil Enforcement Department affiliated with the court within whose jurisdiction the property is located, and to sell the property at public auction so as to enable the creditor to satisfy their debt.

The Syrian Investment Agency has suspended the renewal of licences for real estate development companies, citing the preparation of new implementing instructions for the latest amendments to the Investment Law. The move has disrupted the work of dozens of companies and their projects. The core dispute between the Syrian Investment Agency and the owners of these companies centres on the conditions for regularising their status, particularly the insistence on maintaining the minimum required capital at SYP 5 billion, which currently amounts to around USD 500,000, without a clear timetable for resolution.

Earlier this month, violence escalated in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighbourhoods of Aleppo, amid clashes between the forces of the Syrian transitional government and the Asayish security forces affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Days of shelling and fighting inside densely populated neighbourhoods caused extensive damage to public and private property, with some medical facilities forced to halt operations.

A Syrian Jewish heritage organisation, licensed last month by the transitional government, has reopened the longstanding issue of vacant and seized properties belonging to Syrian Jews. In the city of Aleppo in particular, where there are many Jewish-owned properties, attempts to reopen religious and heritage sites intersect with questions of whether these properties were lawfully appropriated or seized, as their original owners remain absent.

On December 21, 2025, the Minister of Public Works and Housing issued Decision No. 6167, establishing a committee to review cases where members of housing cooperatives were dismissed, meaning their housing allocations or subscriptions were cancelled, due to their failure to meet their financial obligations, or because it was impossible to contact them as a result of displacement, travel, detention, or security-related pursuit. The committee will examine and document the reasons for dismissal.

The Hama Endowments Directorate issued Circular No. 913 on December 23, 2025, addressed to investors and tenants of waqf properties used as restaurants and cafés, stipulating the cancellation of all licences previously granted allowing the provision or sale of any beverages or materials that contravene Islamic objectives, under penalty of immediate contract termination. The circular also noted that the directorate will monitor investors’ compliance through specialised committees tasked with inspections and field visits to ensure proper implementation.

Efforts to address the reconstruction and improve service provision in the eastern neighbourhoods of Aleppo continue to run up against the sheer volume of rubble accumulated over years of war, with no comprehensive official programmes or studies to deal with the issue. With the capacity of municipal and local authorities remaining limited, interventions are confined to scattered locations. Piecemeal initiatives have also emerged from international and local actors to remove and recycle rubble within narrow timeframes and geographical frameworks.

With the return of residents to Douma, in the Damascus countryside, the issue of tunnels has re-emerged as one of the matters directly linked to repair works, rubble removal, and building safety. The city, which saw the construction of an extensive tunnel network during the years of siege, is still dealing today with this legacy as a technical issue deemed non-urgent, at a time when residents’ return to damaged homes is accelerating, and the need for repairs is growing. While the municipality and the Engineers’ Syndicate assert that the tunnels do not pose a structural risk, there is still no clear data regarding their scale and spread.

On December 4, the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic issued Decision No. 14, stipulating the formation of a special committee to address the Decree No. 66 of 2012 file. The committee is tasked with submitting proposals and recommendations to the General Secretariat. The decision to form the committee comes at a sensitive moment, as lingering questions over Decree No. 66 intersect with a broader debate over how to handle during today’s transitional phase urban policies that were approved in recent years.

Since the city of Raqqa fell out of the control of the Assad regime in 2013, real estate documentation has proceeded along two parallel tracks. The first track was linked to the succession of multiple de facto authorities over the Directorate of Land Registry, and the accompanying suspension of its work, transfer of its documents, and the creation of alternative registers. The second track was represented by the practices adopted by rights holders themselves to preserve their property rights, in the absence of a stable and recognised registration authority.

On November 22, the Lattakia governorate Information Branch sent a letter to the Internal Security Branch to prevent and stop any transaction undertaken by members of families affiliated with the Assad regime. The letter (No. 1040) -  listed the following families: Al-Assad, Marai, Shalish, Jaqmoq, Jaber, Kanaan, Makhlouf, Deeb, Maarouf and Khayr Bek. 

Though some residents have returned to the Rural Damascus city of Darayya since Assad’s ouster last year, there are still major obstacles to verifying property rights within the damaged neighbourhoods and informal settlements, as well as removing rubble and providing public services. In this context, the municipality is proposing two new plans to rezone the Khalij district and expand the city, though these steps remain limited amid broader challenges to reconstruction.