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Two Animal Shelters Shuttered in Rural Damascus

16-07-2024/in HLP, News /by Rand Shamaa

On June 25, the final official deadline passed for the closure of two stray animal shelters in the Saboura and Shebaa areas near Damascus. The Rural Damascus governorate has sent a letter to the police command to execute the evacuation process.

According to The Syria Report’s local correspondent, there are two animal welfare associations in Damascus and its countryside specialising in stray dogs and cats. These associations provide healthcare and food through a team of volunteers, funded by the associations themselves and some donations. The first is the Syrian Team for Animal Rescue (STAR), founded by Hanadi Al-Muhtasib in 2015. It runs a stray dog shelter established on a privately rented farm in the Saboura area. The second is the Syrian Association for Rescuing Animals (SARA), founded by Anna Orfali, also in 2015. It manages a stray dog shelter in the Shebaa area near the fourth bridge on the Damascus International Airport road. The former Minister of Agriculture, Ahmed Al-Qadri, allocated public land in Shebaa to the SARA association to set up its shelter.

In 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture decided to evacuate the shelters for health and environmental reasons. According to the semi-official newspaper Al-Watan, neighbours had complained about the disturbing noises and unpleasant smells coming from the shelters. Subsequently, committees from the Ministry of Agriculture inspected the shelters and ordered their evacuation. However, the implementation of this decision was delayed in response to appeals from the associations’ administrators.

The good relationship between the directors of the two associations and the Syria Trust for Development, managed by the Syrian President’s wife, Asma Al-Assad, contributed to the postponement of the evacuation decision at the time, The Syria Report’s correspondent explained. Because of this support from the STD, the reason for the strict official stance towards the associations remains unclear. The Directorate of Agriculture has stopped renewing the veterinary licence for both associations for the past three years without any explanation, forcing them to continue their work illegally.

Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Rural Damascus governorate have resumed pressure on the two associations to vacate the shelters and relocate to the Danoun area in Kisweh, south of Damascus. The Directorate of Agriculture in Rural Damascus explained that the ministry has allocated 40 dunams in Danoun for the associations to move to. However, the new land in Danoun is undeveloped, meaning the associations will need to build new shelters without any government compensation or financial assistance.

The associations have not succeeded in securing funding from foreign or local non-governmental organisations operating in Syria. The directors of the associations declared bankruptcy years ago, warning of the dangers posed by the release of thousands of stray animals. It appears that the Syrian government’s only plan for dealing with stray dogs and cats is simply to kill them, either by poisoning or shooting.

On June 25, Anna Orfali, the director and owner of SARA, told the local Athr Press website that the land for the shelter she manages is two dunams of public property in Shebaa. This land was allocated by the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour several years ago. Orfali added that building the shelter took seven years, with the costs for construction, land allocation, and drilling two water wells amounting to around SYP 10 billion. Since the land is classified as agricultural and construction is prohibited, the shelter was built according to regulations, using structures that can be dismantled.

The decision to close the shelters may be justified on health and environmental grounds, particularly given the failure of the Shebaa and Saboura towns to collect garbage and animal waste from the shelters, according to official media. However, the situation seems more complex. The areas along the airport road in Shebaa and Saboura are tourist zones that once had many thriving private parks before the 2011 revolution. Recently, these areas appear to be recovering, with new tourism projects emerging. This aligns with Ms Orfali’s comments to Athr Press, stating that a school and a tourism project were recently established near the shelter, involving concrete buildings, which should not be permitted on agricultural land.

This is one of the rare instances of conflict between government institutions and associations supported by the Syria Trust for Development. It suggests that there might be more influential parties than the Trust pushing for the evacuation of the shelters. The Syria Report’s correspondent noted the presence of competing parties, including businessmen and tourism companies, pressuring the Rural Damascus governorate and the Ministry of Agriculture to relocate the shelters to Al-Kiswah. Hence, the governorate and ministry are being strict with the associations, bogging them down with bureaucratic complexities and revoking previously granted licences, disregarding the semi-bankrupt organisations’ inability to cover the costs of building new shelters and moving thousands of animals.

Explained: Executive Instructions for the Forestry Law

25-06-2024/in Analysis & Features, HLP /by Rand Shamaa

On January 14, the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform issued Decision No. 5, which included the executive instructions for Forestry Law No. 39 of 2023. Similar to Law No. 39 of 2023, these instructions impose restrictions on the actions of private forest owners and require them to obtain licences from the ministry to manage and develop their forests under the ministry’s supervision.

Among these restrictions, the executive instructions mandate that owners submit a licensing application to the zoning unit of the ministry in the governorate, allowing them to manage their private forests. The licensing application must be accompanied by proof of identity, proof of ownership, and a cadastral statement of the property. A licensing application can also be submitted based on a land lease contract certified by the municipality.

The zoning unit, affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture, operates in forested areas within the agricultural directorates. It is authorised under Law No. 39 of 2023 and its executive instructions to carry out various forestry activities and projects. This unit is distinct from the agricultural extension unit, which is part of the Agricultural Extension Directorate in the Ministry of Agriculture and is responsible for monitoring and training farmers.

If the forestry land is co-owned by a group of owners, the licensing application must be accompanied by a consensual partition document certified by the court. This is an agreement approved by all heirs in the civil court and issued by a judicial decision. The application must also include a written, notarised commitment from the applicant, declaring that they will not infringe upon the shares of other partners, under penalty of having their licence cancelled if opposition from any partner arises later, and a commitment to adhere to the Forestry Law and its executive instructions. If the private forests include co-owned lands that have not yet undergone delimitation and census process, the applicant must submit a cadastral statement issued by the Survey Office in the Land Record and a plan specifying the location and coordinates of their share of the property.

Another restriction imposed by the executive instructions requires private forest owners to obtain a licence if they wish to collect medicinal and aromatic plants from their land. This measure aims to preserve forest species from extinction. However, this contradicts Regulation No. 186 of 1926 on Land Delimitation and Census, which considers the property to include all plants and trees on it, thus making them the owner’s right. Consequently, the licensing requirement restricts the owner from benefiting from the fruits of their land, which is a fundamental aspect of property ownership rights.

The executive instructions specify three situations where a private forest owner is prohibited from utilising their forest land:

If the forest plants are rare or endangered species: The determination of this is made by a decision issued by the Minister of Agriculture.
If the private forest is a natural extension of state forests or within the buffer zone of state forests: This buffer zone includes lands within 200 metres of the state forests, with forest coverage exceeding 70 percent.
If the removal of forest by the owner causes erosion in adjacent state forests: For example, if an owner of a private forest adjacent to state forests wishes to remove some trees, it is prohibited if it leads to degradation and erosion of the state forests’ soil.

On the other hand, depriving the owner of utilising their forest grants them the possibility of receiving compensation, albeit through a complex process outlined in the executive instructions. The zoning unit must send a dossier on the prohibition of the owner’s use of specific forests to the Agricultural Directorate. This directorate coordinates with the Ministry of Finance, the Farmers’ Union, the General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research, and the General Commission for the Management and Protection of State Properties established under Law No. 43 of 2023. These entities form a committee to review the prohibition case and determine the appropriate compensation. The committee may propose compensation for the period of temporary restriction on forest use, submitting the proposal to the Minister of Agriculture, who can issue a decision and refer the dossier to the sub-committee on compensation under the Ministry of Agriculture.

According to the executive instructions, the committee can propose the complete expropriation of the property if deemed necessary. This proposal is then submitted to the minister, who issues a decision and refers the dossier to the subcommittee on expropriation in the Ministry of Agriculture. It is noteworthy that Forestry Law No. 39 does not mention the possibility of expropriating private forest land. Therefore, it seems unusual for the executive instructions to allow for the expropriation of private forests when the original law does not include this provision. This is considered an illegal overreach, especially since expropriation results in the owner being permanently deprived of their property without real guarantees of fair compensation.

Additionally, another restriction imposed by the executive instructions is that private forest owners must obtain a licence to reclaim their land for agricultural use if its forest coverage is less than 40 percent. They are also bound to preserve rare forest species. After submitting the application, a committee consisting of the head of the zoning unit in the governorate and employees from the Ministry of Agriculture will inspect the land to be reclaimed. The committee will determine the condition of the land, its forest coverage percentage, the type and number of trees to be cut for reclamation, the required time for this, and the reclamation period. Once the licence is granted, work must commence within three months, otherwise the licence will be considered void. Land reclamation in this manner is not subject to the provisions of the Agricultural Land Reclamation Law No. 29 of 2012.

Explained: State-owned Properties in the Law for the Establishment and Management of State-owned Companies

19-03-2024/in Analysis & Features, HLP /by Rand Shamaa

On February 14, Law No. 3 on the establishment and management of public joint-stock companies and joint ventures was issued to contribute to the development of the public economic sector, i.e., state-owned companies. The law stipulates the creation and regulation of three types of companies: public joint-stock companies, public holding joint-stock companies, and joint ventures.

Law No. 3 of 2024 allows public sector institutions and companies to transform into public joint-stock companies or public holding joint-stock companies, ensuring their ownership remains with the state. Moreover, the law permits public sector companies and institutions to enter into partnerships with the private sector under specific conditions outlined in Law No. 5 of 2016, which regulates the provisions of the partnership between the public and private sectors.

Law No. 3 of 2024 is the latest in a series of laws issued recently to modernise the legislative framework for companies in Syria. This began with Law No. 3 of 2023 regarding the merger of companies and their conversion into joint-stock companies, followed by Law No. 40 of 2023 concerning the establishment of joint agricultural sector joint-stock companies in both the plant and animal sectors and Law No. 43 of 2023, which deals with the creation of the General Commission for the Management and Protection of State Properties.

Public Joint-Stock Company

According to Law No. 3 of 2024, a public joint-stock company is one in which the state holds all shares, with no private sector partnership. Its establishment requires a decree from the Council of Ministers based on a proposal submitted by a relevant ministry.

A public joint-stock company is managed by a board of directors formed by a decision from the prime minister based on a recommendation from the company’s general assembly. The board of directors can consist of five to 13 members, with a tenure of four years, renewable once. The board has the authority to manage the company and oversee its operations. This includes developing plans, monitoring their implementation, preparing projects, submitting proposals, studies, and approvals. Additionally, the prime minister appoints the company’s CEO for a term of four years, renewable once, upon a recommendation from the board of directors. The CEO is the highest administrative officer responsible for executing the board’s decisions, preparing the annual budget and budget plan or conducting contracts according to the new law.

The law grants the movable and immovable assets of the public joint-stock company the status of the state’s private property. As a result, these properties cannot be sold, acquired, or seized by others. According to Law No. 252 of 1959, the state’s private properties are classified into 12 types, including Amiri land, properties registered in the land registry in the state’s name, properties listed in the state property department’s records, resolved properties, and vacant available lands or abandoned lands.

This relationship between the public joint-stock company and the state’s private properties makes Law No. 3 of 2024 closely related to Law No. 43 of 2023, which concerns the establishment of the General Commission for the Management and Protection of State Properties. The Commission aims to generate steady and permanent resources for the public treasury through the management, maintenance, and investment of the state’s private properties.

A public joint-stock company can obtain loans from the state and also be dissolved, merged, or divided by a decision from the Council of Ministers. Public sector companies can transform into public joint-stock companies by converting their capital into shares owned by the state, but these shares are not offered for public subscription. As the state-run Tishreen newspaper reported on February 26, public institutions such as the Public Establishment for Transmission and Distribution of Electricity or the General Establishment for Drinking Water and Sewage can be transformed into a public joint-stock company. The company’s board of directors assumes responsibility, including pricing flexibility and market competition, without waiting for governmental decisions, thus allowing more ease in operations and service evaluation.

Before Law No. 3 of 2024, public joint-stock companies were subject to the provisions of closed joint-stock companies organised by Companies Law No. 29 of 2011.

Public Holding Joint-Stock Companies

Law No. 3 of 2024 defines a public holding joint-stock company as a public joint-stock company that manages or owns other public joint-stock companies or any other joint-stock companies, including joint ventures and limited liability companies. The Council of Ministers, by decree, determines which companies are owned or managed by the public holding joint-stock company. The shares of the companies owned or managed by the holding company form part of its capital, as do the shares it holds in partnership with other companies, as well as its real estate and fixed assets. This company can own movable properties and real estate necessary for its operations. It also has the right to invest its funds in public or private sector entities and own shares in joint-stock companies.

Law No. 3 of 2024 does not provide for the public offering of shares of the public joint-stock company or the public holding joint-stock company.

Joint Ventures

According to Law No. 3 of 2024, a joint venture is considered a private company if the state’s contribution is at most 49 percent of its capital. If the contribution surpasses this percentage, it is regarded as a public joint-stock company.

A joint venture is established following the approval of the Council of Ministers for public companies and institutions to partner with the private sector. Such a company has bylaws that specify the amount of capital, the state’s contribution percentage, and the company’s structure, including the general assembly, the board of directors, the CEO, and their respective powers. The movable and immovable assets of the joint venture are considered private assets.

Contrary to Law No. 3 of 2024, Law No. 40 of 2023 sets a minimum state contribution in the joint-stock companies in the agricultural sector at no less than 25 percent of their capital. However, Law No. 40 considers a joint-stock company in the agricultural industry a private company regardless of the extent of state contribution. This is assumed to grant the company greater freedom in operations compared to the bureaucratic restrictions imposed on public sector companies.

Explained: The General Commission for the Management and Protection of State Properties

03-01-2024/in Analysis & Features, HLP /by Alicia Medina

On December 28, 2023, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad issued Law No. 43, establishing the General Commission for the Management and Protection of State Properties (GCMPST). The aim is to secure steady and permanent resources for the public treasury through the management, maintenance and investment in the state’s privately owned properties.

This new General Commission is financially and administratively independent although it is funded from the government’s budget.

Before the establishment of this General Commission, the state’s private properties were managed by two entities; the Directorate of State Properties and Agrarian Reform under the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, and the Directorate of Property Affairs under the governorate councils. Law No. 43 stipulates that all employees of the aforementioned directorates are automatically transferred to the new GCMPST, retaining their legal status in terms of wages and seniority.

The Government had approved, at the beginning of October 2023, a draft law to establish a public authority with legal and financial independence to protect and manage state properties and optimise their investment in a manner that generates higher financial returns. This coincided with another draft law ratified by the Parliament on November 30, 2023, granting the Prime Minister the authority to manage and invest confiscated movable and immovable funds and properties under executed judicial rulings. The Parliament referred the law to the President for approval and publication. Law No. 43 related to the General Commission for the Management and Protection of State Properties is not specific on the subject of properties confiscated under executed judicial rulings, which is expected to be addressed in a subsequent specialised law.

Law No. 43 emphasised that the new Commission’s role is only to follow the implementation of the State Properties Law No. 252 of 1959, and the Agricultural Reform Law No. 161 of 1958 and their amendments. Law No. 43 did not grant the Commission the power to apply other previous laws regulating state properties, such as the Maritime Public Properties Law No. 65 of 2001. The reason for excluding these laws is unclear, despite anything indicating that they ceased to apply.

Law No. 43 defines the structure, powers and operational mechanism of the General Commission. It stipulates that the Commission will have a General Director and a board of 11 representatives from various ministries and bodies, chaired by the Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform. The board includes the General Director of the Commission, the Deputy Director of the Commission, the Director of the Planning and International Cooperation Commission, representatives from the General Directorate of Cadastral Affairs, the Higher Regional Planning Council, the General Union of Farmers and the Ministries of Finance and Water Resources. The board’s chair can invite specialists to attend the board meetings as non-voting participants.

The board’s general responsibilities include approving strategies and annual plans related to the protection of the state’s private properties, approving the annual budget, the annual report on the Commission’s activities, proposing legislation and internal regulations related to the Commission’s work, and accepting donations and contracting with experts. These responsibilities are broadly similar to those granted by specific laws to other public authorities.

Law No. 43 states that the Prime Minister is responsible for appointing the General Director of the Commission, whereas other laws about public authorities specify that the General Director is appointed by presidential decree. The General Director exercises the powers of representing the Commission in legal matters, implementing the board’s decisions, plans, and programmes, and preparing the budget draft and annual report.

The law also makes the General Commission accountable solely to the Minister of Agriculture, who already chairs the Commission’s board. This is unusual because it is typically expected that such a public authority should be accountable to a different entity not involved in its management, such as the Ministry of Justice, especially given that the matter involves public properties, a large portion of which were private properties that have been confiscated or appropriated by the Syrian state. Additionally, the law does not require a representative from the Ministry of Justice to serve on the Commission’s board, whose key duties include proposing legislation and regulations related to the Commission’s operations.

Equally surprising is the exclusion of the Ministry of Interior from representation on the board of the General Commission. Instead of the Ministry of Interior being responsible for protecting public properties from encroachments and violations, Law 43 stipulates the establishment of a judicial police force specific to the Commission, appointed by the Minister of Agriculture upon the recommendation of the General Director. The law assigns this judicial police force the task of drawing up reports against violators, removing violations and referring these reports to the judiciary.

Former Governor Arrested for Unlicensed Construction in Lattakia

22-11-2023/in HLP, News /by Rand Shamaa

Former Lattakia Governor Major General Ibrahim Khader Al-Salem was arrested under a warrant issued on October 18, by the Ministry of Justice’s Lattakia Court and placed in the governorate’s Al-Basseh prison. Out of 14 officials wanted for investigation in the same cases, 10 were arrested and four went into hiding.

Among the charges directed against the former governor, according to the arrest and summons warrant, are crimes of bribery, forgery of official documents, the misuse of public funds, embezzlement, and seizing state properties. A video clip circulated on social media showing Mr Salem surrounded by police officers, apparently at the moment of his arrest and being led out of his house. However, it appears that his arrest preceded the warrant by more than 45 days, according to local media.

On October 3, the semi-official Al-Watan newspaper reported the arrest of current and former officials, neighbourhood mukhtars, building contractors, and influential people, describing them as part of an organised corruption network involved in serious unlicensed construction, public funds embezzlement, changing the zoning status of real estate areas, extorting public properties, and money laundering. The newspaper stated that a precautionary seizure was placed on the properties of these accused individuals, including their spouses and children. Other local media also reported the recovery of some state properties seized by the accused.

Among the detainees are the director of Cadastral Affairs in Lattakia and his assistant, two former mayors of Lattakia city, and the former director of the technical services department. Also among the accused is a member of the People’s Assembly, amid reports of demands to lift his immunity for arrest.

The current head of the Lattakia Governorate Council announced on September 10 the transfer of five files to the monitoring and inspection authorities, including files regarding transgressions in the Lattakia City Council, the General Housing Establishment, and other projects, where corruption and waste exceed billions of Syrian pounds, according to Al-Watan.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister issued Resolution No. 1751 on November 13 to form a committee to count and study all properties whose zoning status was modified in Lattakia, believed to involve more than 180 properties, as well as study the modifications to the building code. The committee includes the Deputy Minister of Local Administration and Environment, the Deputy Minister of Public Works and Housing, the head of the Lattakia City Council, a judge from the State Council, the director of the financial directorate of the governorate, and the director of the real estate services directorate.

As some local news outlets reported, Mr Salem is supported by Bouthaina Shaaban, the political advisor to Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad, with whom he has a familial connection. He previously held the position of head of the Criminal Security Branch in Lattakia and is one of the longest-serving governors among those appointed since 2011. He served as the governor of Lattakia for seven years, from 2014 to 2021.

In Syria, the governor sits at the head of the highest executive authority in their governorate and is directly appointed by the President of the Republic. According to Local Administration Law No. 107 of 2011, the governor is the representative of the central authority, an agent for all ministries, and is appointed and dismissed by decree. The law also states that the governor is, by default, a member of the Higher Council for Local Administration, and the governor chairs the Executive Office in the province, which in turn is part of the Governorate Council. The governor has the right to name members of the permanent or temporary committees that they establish, and they have the powers of judicial police in the case of flagrant crimes. They are responsible for contracting, and ordering expenditure for the governorate budget, and all official directorates in the governorate are subject to their written orders.

Reports in local media have pointed to corruption cases exceeding SYP 52 billion, most notably real estate issues, such as overlooking major cases of unlicensed construction, including an unauthorised increase in the number of storeys, in exchange for the governor and his partners receiving a share in each building. Some local networks have reported that the number of properties registered in the name of the governor, his wife, and his children exceeds 100 properties. However, The Syria Report has not been able to verify the accuracy of this information.

However, according to media reports, the most prominent case of unlicensed construction committed by the governor relates to the Zeitouna residential project in Al-Mashaher area of Lattakia city, which was established on land without detailed zoning plans to date. The general zoning plan for the area had envisaged the construction of schools, public parks, and housing.

It is unclear who owns the land and whether it is private or expropriated. In any case, the project contractor, in partnership with the former governor, built a luxurious residential project in Zeitouna without leaving space for gardens and schools. Theoretically, this means that despite its luxury, the project is considered informal, built on public property, or land commonly owned but not subdivided in the Land Records. Consequently, the residential apartments in the project will not be noted in the Land Records. They will not be eligible for subdivision and registration in the names of their buyers. However, in practice, the buyers were granted official ownership deeds for these apartments, meaning the official documents were falsified.

The opposition website Al-Hal Net reported in 2021 that developers of residential apartments in Zeitouna had begun requiring applicants to pay half the property’s value in advance. According to the website, the apartment was valued at more than SYP 100 million at that time.

In August 2021, Al-Wahda published an interview with the director of the Zeitouna project, who said the buildings included shops, commercial markets, storeys designated for offices, and, above them, 10 residential storeys. The engineer indicated that the project began in 2017 and was completed in multiple phases. The extent of completion of the project and whether it is partially or fully inhabited is unclear amidst news of fraud and corruption in connecting the electricity, sewage, and water networks.

Moreover, news leaked about the same contractor and the former governor extorting a large property from a private company in the Al-Slaybiyeh real estate area and incorporating it into the Zeitouna project. Additionally, the former governor granted approval to change the zoning status of some areas from commercial to residential, allowing for the construction of additional storeys while maintaining their commercial nature. Some pro-regime influencers on social media revealed an agreement between members of the arrested network to inflate the prices of certain properties artificially.

This news of the former governor’s corruption does not come as a surprise. It is a quasi-official way of dealing with influential regime officials whose interests conflict with those more powerful than them. For example, a similar case happened with the former businessman Rami Makhlouf. With the lack of transparency in the official media and the inability to access the real reasons that led to the opening of corruption files against the former governor of Lattakia, unconfirmed rumours circulate that the problem stems from the former governor and his partner, the contractor in the Zeitouna project, refusing to pay USD 10 million to one of the influential senior officials in the state. However, The Syria Report was unable to substantiate this rumour.