Explained: The Martyrs’ Fund, a Main Financier of the Marota and Basilia City Projects

Though the Martyrs’ Fund, which was established by the Assad regime to support the families of fallen soldiers, was involved in some economic activities during the regime’s final years, it remained a mysterious institution. There was little information about its formation, revenues, and role in financing specific activities, some of which related to housing, land, and property rights.

In practice, the role of the Fund was not limited to supporting the families of martyrs during Assad’s rule, but among the other projects it was involved in was the financing of certain infrastructure and alternative housing projects in the Basilia and Marota real estate development areas, two zoned areas that were established under Legislative Decree No. 66 of 2012. Marota City  stretches southeast of the Mezzeh district, while Basilia lies south of the Southern Ring Road.

The Damascus Governorate manages the two zoning areas through the Directorate for the Implementation of Decree 66 and through Damascus Cham Holding Company, which is owned by the governorate. The Damascus Governorate granted Damascus Cham Holding Company the right to assign one of its subsidiary management companies to handle the administration of the zoning areas, carry out and oversee their implementation, and conclude all necessary contracts. The company finances infrastructure works in both zoning areas, but is also in charge of providing  alternative housing to former right owners in these two areas,  under social housing programmes implemented by state-owned institutions.

The first time a reference was made to the Martyrs’ Fund dates back to 2015, when a meeting of the Central Committee for Following up on Martyrs Families in Daraa mentioned an “account belonging to the Martyrs’ Fund” and to investment projects allocated for its support. References to the Fund increased in 2021 under similar titles such as the “Martyrs and Wounded Fund” or “Martyrs’ Families Fund,” despite the absence of any decree or published legislative text establishing it. Its function was to disburse grants and aid to the families of fallen soldiers and the war-wounded, and the SANA news agency documented on more than one occasion government decisions stating that the grants were paid out from this fund, including the war-wounded grant in 2021 and the grant for “auxiliary forces” casualties in 2023.

Nevertheless, to this day many details remain unclear.

The Fund’s administrative structure, oversight mechanisms for its resources, and periodic financial reports are unavailable, and the legal basis for its establishment was never published. Sources from the Damascus Governorate with knowledge of the activities of Damascus Cham Holding  told The Syria Report that the Fund was created, informally, in 2021. The connection between the Fund established in 2021 and earlier mentions of a Martyrs’ Fund dating back to 2015 is not clear.

One known source for the money collected by the Fund is the revenue generated by pressures put by the Syrian regime on local businessmen. Those referred for investigation, generally at the infamous Al-Khatib branch of State Security, were often forced to pay large sums as part of a settlement, in exchange for their release. All arrests and settlements took place outside the framework of the law, courts, and official tax institutions. Often, according to our sources, the detained person would deposit the amount, against an official receipt, into a special account for the Martyrs’ Fund at the central bank, without it being recorded among public treasury revenues.

The Syria Report’s sources estimated that during the two years preceding the fall of the Assad regime, the Fund’s monthly revenues ran in the millions of dollars According to the sources, settlement amounts reached tens of billions of Syrian pounds in some cases.

Although the Fund also financed other projects, in recent years, it provided a significant part of the funding received by Damascus Cham Holding Company. To this day, the nature of the relationship between the Fund and Damascus Cham Holding Company remains unclear, but our sources indicated that the Fund’s interest in the Marota and Basilia projects stemmed from the Damascus governorate allocating dozens of plots to it free of charge, which were classified as investment plots.

The sources estimated that the Fund’s financing of alternative housing and infrastructure in the two projects aimed to accelerate the completion of construction works and attract investors into the real estate project.