Damascus Governorate Moves to Evict Residents in Sarouja

The Damascus governorate has begun issuing eviction notices to some residents of the Sarouja district in central Damascus, in what it said was a step to reclaim homes that it says are governorate properties. The governorate gave residents only a few days to vacate and hand over the houses. In response, many residents submitted requests to the governorate to lift the expropriation of their homes, but it decided to wait before reviewing those requests.

Sarouja is an old district containing historic buildings, some of which date back to the medieval-era Zengid state, once centered in Damascus. It is distinguished by its narrow streets and traditional Damascene architecture, as well as elements of Ottoman and French styles, making it an integral part of the city’s cultural and urban heritage. Its high population density and central location make it one of the capital’s most important districts.

The governorate expropriated the entire Sarouja district in the early 1980s, under a government policy at the time to rehabilitate the area. However, the proposed urban development projects for the district were unclear and never implemented, leaving the situation unchanged and residents remaining in their homes despite the expropriation order. The expropriation decision at that time sparked major controversy, with property owners repeatedly submitting requests for annulment. The governorate continued to reject those requests, saying that a cancellation of expropriation required a presidential decree or a judicial ruling. The last request was submitted to the Council of Ministers in early 2011, leading to the formation of a committee to assess the situation and raise the matter to the President’s office. But the outbreak of the Revolution in March 2011 halted the entire process.

Property owners in Sarouja have suffered greatly over the past years due to complex procedures for obtaining permits to restore their old homes, which placed the structural safety of some in jeopardy. Because those properties are classified as historic, any restoration must match the original architectural features. Restoration cannot be carried out except under the supervision of specialised governorate committees. A “heritage buildings” designation was also placed on some houses, preventing even the governorate from selling them.

Sources in the governorate told The Syria Report that a study on the situation in Sarouja and its expropriation order was completed four months ago. It revealed cases of property seizures in the district that occurred during the Assad regime. These cases can be divided into multiple categories according to the rights holders or occupants of the properties:

The first category comprises owners of expropriated houses and shops who refused to vacate them despite having been compensated with alternative housing. The Syria Report’s correspondent in Damascus noted that the eviction notices sent by the governorate late last week targeted some Sarouja residents from this category who had previously been compensated with alternative housing in the Tadhamon district. These people had indeed received those alternative homes but did not vacate their original residences in Sarouja. Some sources indicate that some of them paid bribes to governorate officials at the time in order to remain in their original homes. Governorate sources said they consider those people to be effectively squatters on expropriated property and that they no longer have any rights to it.

The second category includes people who had reached agreements with governorate officials during the Assad regime to remove rubble from certain expropriated, vacant homes and properties, then restored them and took them over. Some of those who seized vacant properties were former officers, and they too have now been directly ordered to vacate.

The governorate had also previously sold some expropriated properties as plots available for construction, with the aim of establishing modern housing complexes for some investors. These can be considered a third category.

In addition to these categories, the majority of residents of expropriated Sarouja properties are their original owners or former tenants under the compulsory extension system, who were not compensated. Thus, immediately after the governorate began issuing eviction notices in Sarouja, many of them went to the governorate building to protest and to submit requests for lifting expropriation from their properties. They insist that they are rights holders, that they were not given alternative housing, and some of them have documents proving this. Regarding the submission of requests to lift expropriation, sources explained that anyone with rights in the district may submit a request accompanied by a copy of the occupant’s identity card and a document proving their entitlement, whether ownership or rental.

Governorate sources indicated that this category is currently under review in order to develop solutions that take their rights into account. Since lifting expropriation requires a judicial ruling from the Council of State, which has been out of service since the end of 2024, the requests submitted to the governorate following the recent eviction decisions have not been decided upon, pending the development of solutions for the residents.