National Housing Damage Survey Begins, First Figures Emerge from Daraa

The Ministry of Local Administration and Environment has begun  surveying damage sustained by housing during the war in Syria, in cooperation with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme UN-Habitat. The survey aims to produce a unified official database on the scale of housing damage. The process began in Daraa Governorate in February 2026 and will later expand to include the remaining governorates.

The ministry had planned this survey since September 2025, with assistance from UN-Habitat experts. Specialised technical committees affiliated with the administrative units in each governorate will carry out field surveys of housing damage within the scope of each administrative unit, before submitting their reports to the governorate, where the data will be compiled and later sent to the ministry.

Ali Al-Hamad, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment, told The Syria Report that the ministry expects to complete the survey within two months, and added that the speed of completing the survey may vary between governorates, as those with larger geographical areas will require more time for the technical committees to complete their work.

The survey in Daraa governorate has found about 93,000 damaged homes; 33,400 are completely destroyed and require reconstruction, while around 60,000 houses have varying levels of damage that can be repaired to different degrees.

The most affected area is Daraa Al-Balad, in Daraa city, where housing damage is estimated at around 70 per cent, followed by the town of Sheikh Miskin in the Daraa countryside at approximately 60 per cent, then Busra Al-Harir at up to 50 per cent. The town of Namer is also among the areas where housing damage has reached about 50 per cent.

The technical committees formed by the administrative units (towns and villages) in Aleppo have also nearly completed the survey of housing damage in that governorate. The technical committees are currently preparing the final figures related to the number of damaged homes, in preparation for submitting them to the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment as part of the overall survey data.

In 2025, the Syrian Engineers Syndicate prepared a procedural guide for surveying housing damage. The Syndicate’s Secretary, Rasheen Ismat, told The Syria Report that this guide was developed according to international standards, so that it could serve as the reference used by technical teams in determining the level of damage to residential properties.

Mr Ismat explained that the guide sets out the criteria for classifying housing damage, including homes that cannot be repaired and require reconstruction. This category includes homes whose structural integrity has been damaged, even if they are still standing but have become dangerous.

A source in the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment told The Syria Report that unifying damage figures through this survey will make them the official reference instead of the scattered estimates issued by different entities. These official data are expected to enable public bodies and private companies wishing to enter reconstruction and real estate development projects to rely on accurate figures when estimating the cost of rebuilding damaged areas. The availability of these data is also expected to contribute to accelerating the preparation of studies and projects related to reconstruction.