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Decision to End the Possibility of Settling Building Violations Cuts off Source of Funding for Syrian Cities and Towns

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The Minister of Local Administration and Environment issued a decision on November 9, 2023, Decision No. 2795, that halted the legal settlements for building violations that were being carried out under Law No. 40 of 2012. Because it deprives them of one of their self-financing sources of funding, the decision has sparked criticism from various administrative units, such as cities and towns, which have called for its repeal.

A meeting of the Higher Council for Local Administration, held on November 2, 2023 and chaired by the Prime Minister, deemed it time to halt the enforcement of settlements for unlicensed construction – more than ten years since Law No. 40 of 2012 was issued. This law allowed for the settlement of certain construction violations that occurred before its issuance, while requiring the removal of all unlicensed constructions occurring thereafter. The law did not specify a deadline for completing the settlement process.

The Higher Council for Local Administration was established under Local Administration Law No. 107 of 2011. It includes the Prime Minister as chairman, the Minister of Local Administration as deputy chairman, and the Head of the Planning and International Cooperation Commission, governors, chairpersons of governorate councils, and the Head of the Regional Planning Commission as members. The council meets twice a year and is tasked with developing and overseeing the implementation of a national decentralisation plan, issuing decisions to clarify the working mechanisms of local units, and approving executive regulations and amendments to fees, resources, and compensations.

In its meeting on November 2, the council identified the failure to complete the inventory and physical inspection tables of violations occurring before the issuance of Law No. 40 of 2012 as a reason for stopping the settlement of unlicensed construction. These tables, which were supposed to be completed by the end of 2012, form the basis for settlement as stipulated in the executive instructions of Law No. 40.

The Tartous Governorate responded to the criticisms and objections raised by its administrative units by sending letter No. 363 to the Ministry of Local Administration on January 16, 2024, outlining the drawbacks of halting the settlements. The letter stated that stopping the settlements deprives the administrative units of an important financial resource, as they have come to rely heavily on construction permit fees and settlement of violations to fund their budgets, in accordance with Local Administration Law No. 107 of 2012.

The governorate justified its request to continue the settlement of violations by pointing out that many settlement transactions were in progress, registered in citizen service centres with assigned numbers and dates, making it necessary to complete them. The governorate confirmed that it adhered to the executive instructions of Law No. 40 of 2012 and had submitted inventory tables and physical inspection reports on violations occurring before the issuance of Law No. 40.

In contrast, an official from Damascus Governorate defended the Minister of Local Administration’s decision No. 2795, arguing that the 12 years since the issuance of Law No. 40 of 2012 was more than sufficient to settle all old violations that occurred beforehand. The semi-official newspaper Al-Watan reported in December 2023, quoting the unnamed official, that the past years had been enough to settle any unlicensed construction, and there was no longer any justification for them after tens of thousands of violations had been settled over the years.

It appears that the Damascus Governorate’s support for the minister’s decision came against the backdrop of the scandals that accompanied the settlement of a building violation in a mall for an influential businessman. In 2018, the Damascus governorate issued a decision to settle an unlicensed construction on a public property at the BigFive Mall in the Midan area. This decision was based on evidence provided by the mall’s investor, Bilal Naal, which claimed the violation occurred before 2012. However, in October 2023, the Damascus governorate discovered that the evidence provided by Mr Naal was incorrect and that the violation had actually occurred after 2012. The governorate then decided to demolish the mall. After some deliberation, a compromise was reached to postpone the demolition and removal of the mall until the implementation of the area’s zoning plan in 2028.

Notably, the violation at BigFive Mall involved construction on public property, which, according to Law No. 40 of 2012, requires demolition regardless of when the violation occurred. Violations that can be settled under Law No. 40 of 2012 do not include encroachments on public property or violations that do not meet structural safety standards.

Law No. 40 specifies that the settlement fine is twice the estimated benefit factor of the violation, which is calculated based on executive instructions. To estimate the benefit factor, complex calculations are used, involving weighting factors. There is no single standard to follow, especially since administrative unit councils rely on the real estate’s current market prices.

Government Arrests Officials from Qatana City Council over Unlicensed Construction

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The Deputy Governor of Rural Damascus announced in February the arrest of the president of the city council and head of the technical office in Qatana, a suburb of Damascus located west of the Syrian capital, according to an article published by the semi-official newspaper Al-Watan on February 25. The officials are reportedly under investigation due to their involvement in concealing unlicensed construction.

Qatana is a city and district centre administratively belonging to the governorate of Rural Damascus. The city witnessed significant expropriations of local properties in the 1970s for the benefit of the Ministry of Defence, which established multiple military sites for the 10th Division and the Republican Guard, as well as housing for officers. There are five compounds in Qatana comprising hundreds of residences for officers, some of which were constructed by the Military Construction Establishment of the Ministry of Defence, including the residences of the 10th Division officers, Ras Al-Maara residences, and Tawaafiq residences. An active officer in the regime’s forces in Damascus and its countryside can rent a house in these compounds for a nominal fee during their service period until the end of their military service.

Some of these compounds have witnessed numerous cases of unlicensed construction by resident officers, such as expansions and the construction of annexes.

Over time, Qatana has become one of the largest residential areas for military and security officials in Rural Damascus, with a significant proportion of them hailing from the Syrian coast. Besides the housing allocated to them, some of these officers bought properties and land in Qatana and built homes where they lived after retirement, forming their own communities and neighbourhoods in the city.

The original residents of Qatana, who are Sunni Muslims, felt marginalised in their own city due to the extensive expropriations. This sentiment contributed to their participation in demonstrations against the regime at the onset of the 2011 uprising. With the emergence of armed opposition factions, several battles took place in Qatana before regime forces fully regained control by the end of 2012, expelling the opposition to the nearby Khan Al-Shih Palestinian refugee camp. The armed factions from Qatana formed a group named “Khan Al-Shih Gathering,” which fought against regime forces in western Rural Damascus. In 2016, regime forces, supported by Russian airpower, launched a large military campaign in the area, resulting in the forced displacement of opposition factions to northern Syria.

While most neighbouring cities, such as Zakia, Khan Al-Shih, and Kanaker, were under siege, Qatana became a market for building materials in the region. Since 2015, Qatana has witnessed large-scale unlicensed construction overlooked by municipal authorities, largely because those committing them were affiliated with regime forces.

According to a correspondent for The Syria Report, the president of the Qatana city council, Nourhan Imran, and the head of the technical office were detained by the Political Security Branch in Damascus on behalf of the Central Authority for Supervision and Inspection (CASI) on February 23. The correspondent noted that Ms Imran and the head of the technical office were released 24 hours after their detention and have since resumed their duties normally.

Sources within Qatana municipality reported that after her release, Ms Imran accused certain city council members of being responsible for her detention by filing what she described as “hundreds of malicious reports” against her. Ms Imran stated that her release came after she was “cleared” of the charges. However, these sources indicated that her release resulted from intervention by a security agency on her behalf, denying the claim of her exoneration. According to the sources, Ms Imran was involved in covering up multiple cases of unlicensed construction, which she ignored due to nepotism, personal relationships, or accepting bribes.

According to those sources, Ms Imran and the head of the technical office had taken preemptive steps to protect themselves. They wrote official reports on the unlicensed construction, demanding their removal by applying Building Violations Law No. 40 of 2012. It is common practice among Syrian officials involved in corruption to file reports on matters they wish to cover up, but then hinder the follow-up actions. It remains unclear how these reports are archived and not executed.

In any case, sources indicate that the reports submitted against Ms Imran to the CASI were not limited to concealing unlicensed constructions. They also highlighted her responsibility for corruption in the compulsory readjustment of land to property owners in Qatana.

Compulsory land readjustment occurs during the zoning of an area by reallocating land to rightful owners, often in different locations and after deducting a portion without compensation. According to Planning and Urban Development Law No. 23 of 2015, a zoned real estate area becomes a legal entity replacing all landowners and rights holders. The zoning work concludes by redistributing properties to rights holders according to their shares, and this redistribution must be exclusively within the zoning area.

In July 2023, journalist Reem Al-Saleh, who works for the official Al-Thawra newspaper, mentioned in a radio interview with Sham FM that her father owned six dunums within the zoning area of the city. The compulsory readjustment committee compensated him with two plots outside the zoning area. Ms Al-Saleh confirmed that the Rural Damascus Governorate Council was unaware of the issue, noting that the problem affected dozens of rights holders in Qatana who were compensated with plots outside the zoning area. Ms Al-Saleh accused the Qatana City Council, without naming Ms Imran.

In August 2023, Ms Imran told Al-Watan newspaper that the zoning decree No. 8 of 2015 in Qatana was issued according to the provisions of the old law No. 9 of 1974, which pertains to the division, zoning, and urbanisation of cities. This law allows for the free deduction of up to 45 percent of the area of properties within the zoned real estate area. She added that the entity responsible for responding to complaints is the compulsory readjustment committee, headed by a real estate judge. Ms Imran emphasised that as the head of the municipality, her role was solely to announce the issuance of the distribution tables and that the objection period for these tables ended on August 8, 2023.

She also explained that the zoning area included entire properties as well as parts of other properties. Therefore, owners of entire properties received their zoning plots within the area, while owners of partially zoned properties had parts of their land included in the area and parts remaining outside.

However, complaints indicated that owners of agricultural land within the zoning area were compensated with plots outside the area. Additionally, some rights holders were given plots in areas with existing occupations and residences. The Syria Report’s correspondent could not confirm the involvement of mayor Imran in the compulsory readjustment issue.

SSG Reduces and Cancels Some Real Estate Fees

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The presidency of the newly formed Syrian Salvation Government (SSG), headed by its new president Mohammed Al-Bashir, issued Decision No. 37 on March 6, which included reductions and exemptions from various real estate fees in areas controlled by Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) in Idlib. The SSG classified this decision as part of a series of reform decisions that will be issued successively to reduce taxes, stimulate construction activity, and facilitate its procedures, which will create more job opportunities.

Decision No. 37 was based on a statement of the Syrian General Conference in September 2017, that led to the formation of the first Salvation Government. The decision also drew on Decree No. 1 of 2024 from the Shura Council. The Shura Council, acting as a parliament, includes dignitaries and notables from various areas of Idlib appointed in 2019, without elections. The council recently formed a Supreme Electoral Committee to establish an electoral law and elect a new Shura Council. Decision No. 37 also referred to what it described as the “directives of the liberated area’s leadership,” referring to HTS.

Article 1 of Decision No. 37 included the cancellation of all financial fees on residential buildings with an area of less than 50 square metres. These fees were previously USD 0.50 per square metre, collected annually. The decision applies to all existing buildings and those to be constructed after its issuance. Additionally, Article 1 exempts these buildings from the requirement to submit architectural plans, including existing buildings in the process of being licensed and regularised, as well as buildings to be constructed after the decision’s issuance.

Mohammed Ghazal, the Director of Technical Services at the Ministry of Local Administration and Services from the SSG, told The Syria Report‘s correspondent that the cancellation of financial fees and the exemption from preparing architectural plans only apply to non-storeyed buildings with small areas, where the absence of an architectural plan does not affect their structural integrity or pose a risk to their inhabitants. Often, homes with small areas (less than 50 square metres) are those residential blocks that people have increasingly relied on as a more sustainable alternative to tents. These blocks typically consist of two rooms and utilities, with mud walls, and roofs made of cement or insulation.

Architectural plans are still required for licensing any building that exceeds 50 square metres, while buildings consisting of four floors or more must also undergo structural analysis according to the building code and earthquake annex, Mr Ghazal pointed out.

Article 2 included a 75 percent reduction in the financial, technical, and engineering fees collected by the Ministry of Local Administration and Services for all buildings, whether residential, commercial, or service-oriented. The financial and technical fees are fixed charges levied by the ministry for administrative and service works, while engineering fees are charged to pay for engineering procedures such as inspections and plan studies. These fees include licensing fees, settlement fees, and penalties. Settlement fees apply to unlicensed buildings constructed in accordance with the building code, erected on zoned areas. Owners of such buildings can settle their status and obtain a licence according to the current state of the building. Penalty fees apply to buildings that do not comply with the building code in terms of the number of floors, height, facade system, and land area.

Article 3 of the decision reduces by 90 percent the value of the improvement fee levied on properties for licence transactions, settlements, violations, and audits. An improvement fee is imposed on built and unbuilt properties that experience improvement, i.e., an increase in their value, as a result of public utility works. The administrative unit collects this fee within its administrative boundaries. The improvement fee is charged on properties located in areas undergoing zoning, or when a road is constructed nearby or a park is created, which leads to an increase in the property’s value. This fee is paid once with the first improvement and is not imposed for subsequent improvements. Still, the connection between licence transactions, settlements, violations, audits, and the improvement fee is not clear.

Article 4 includes the cancellation of fixed financial fees related to licence transactions and settlements. These are the fees imposed on the execution of licensed construction works, including the service fee due for each concrete pouring permission, which allows the contractor or building owner to start the concrete pouring process after verifying that the reinforcement works meet the required technical conditions. Additionally, the article cancels fees for technical inspections and the monitoring of the implementation of architectural plans, as well as the works fee imposed on works on public roads using construction materials and machinery.

Article 5 stipulates the settlement of buildings constructed before March 1, and treating them as per the current situation. This means licensing the non-compliant buildings constructed before March 1, according to the building code of each area, and in accordance with the zoning plans that the ministry is issuing one after the other. This does not include the removal or demolition of these buildings, but an engineering inspection is conducted on their structural integrity following the same procedures for licensing new buildings.

The package of exemptions and reductions included in Decision No. 37 will effectively reduce the resources of the SSG Ministry of Local Administration and Services collected by the financial department within the ministry, as well as those collected by the associated local councils. Mohammed Ghazal clarified that this decrease in resources will reduce the ministry’s ability to execute some existing projects. However, it will not halt the ministry’s operations entirely, which will continue to oversee other service projects, such as road construction and implementation.

The SSG Ministry of Local Administration also issued Decision No. 89 on March 6, which allows construction within the protection areas of the zoning plans, with the exception of Idlib city. The protection area of a zoning plan separates the zoned areas from the unzoned ones. Parts of the protection area are usually zoned during the expansion of the zoning plan in a routine manner. Municipalities and the executive office prohibit the construction of residential or commercial buildings in the protection areas. The ministry has required anyone wishing to build in these protection areas to comply with the building code system specific to agricultural, rocky, or mountainous areas, depending on the type of land.

Justice Ministry Imposes Fresh HLP Restrictions

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On March 10, Minister of Justice Ahmed Al-Sayed issued two circulars that restrict the ability of property owners in concerned areas to manage their properties. The first, No. 3, concerns lawsuits related to the partition, subdivision, termination of common property and correction of property descriptions. The second, No. 4, deals with the irrevocable power of attorney in areas undergoing beautification and the termination of common property.

Circular No. 3

Circular No. 3 is directed at judges in judicial bodies dealing with cases related to the termination of common property ownership, subdivision, and the correction of property descriptions. It mandates adherence to the content of previous circulars issued by the ministry concerning these cases. Additionally, Circular No. 3 emphasises that the Judicial Inspection Directorate (JID) and public prosecutors monitor the proper application of the circular and report any violations.

JID is an independent judicial entity headed by a judge, affiliated with the Higher Judicial Council and the Justice Minister. Its role includes regular inspections of the work of judges, courts, judicial departments, public prosecution, notary public offices, bar associations, and their branches, among other legal and judicial entities. A public prosecutor is a judge who works under the supervision of the Attorney General in the public prosecution office, is assigned tasks by the Attorney General, and receives complaints about the judicial system and public prosecution.

Circular No. 3 requests judges, the JID, and public prosecutors to adhere to the contents of a previous circular, No. 40 of 2016. This circular asserts that the relevant administrative units must be represented in cases concerning the subdivision and correction of property descriptions. If the co-owners of a common property do not agree on its voluntary partition, they must file a lawsuit in court for its division among them through a judgement that can be executed in the Land Registry, except in cases of obstacles such as construction violations. To ensure no such violation exists, the administrative units must be represented in these cases as the executive authority in the concerned real estate area, knowledgeable about zoning plans and building codes.

Furthermore, Circular No. 3 instructs judges, the JID, and public prosecutors to comply with the procedures and provisions of Article 64 of the Local Administration Law No. 107 of 2011 concerning partition, subdivision, and zoning cases, as stipulated in the previous Circular No. 27 of 2021. Zoning cases are legal actions filed by a property owner if they suffer a loss due to the zoning of the area, such as receiving inadequate compensation.

Article 64 of Law No. 107 of 2012 states that it is not permissible to divide, subdivide, or zone lands within the boundaries of an administrative unit, or to subdivide any already built construction, without a certified plan from the administrative unit. This plan must delineate the property boundaries and its surroundings, including the locations of main and side streets, and public utilities.

Circular No. 4

Meanwhile, Circular No. 4, addressed to notaries, the JID, and public prosecutors, responds to a previous letter from the Central Authority for the Supervision and Inspection (CASI) regarding some notaries’ violations of the provisions of Article No. 4 of the Beautification and Termination of Common Property Law No. 166 of 1967 and its amendments. These violations involve documenting irrevocable power of attorneys in property areas subject to beautification and termination of common property operations.

The CASI is an independent regulatory body affiliated with the Prime Minister, aiming to achieve effective supervision over the state’s administrations and institutions. This is to improve performance, preserve public funds, enhance productivity and efficiency, and facilitate the provision of services to citizens.

Law No. 166 of 1967 on the beautification and termination of common property is still in force. Its first article clarifies that the purpose of beautification and termination of common property operations is to partition commonly owned agricultural lands among their owners, or to beautify excessively fragmented agricultural lands by providing the owner with a single plot instead of several scattered ones. This aims to facilitate the investment and reclamation of lands. Article 3 of the law stipulates the formation of a committee in each real estate area to conduct beautification and termination of common property tasks. This committee includes the area’s real estate judge, the director of the Land Record in the governorate, the head of technical services directorate, a representative from the General Union of Farmers, and an expert from the local community appointed by the governor as a member.

Article 4, mentioned in the Justice Minister’s circular, specifies that upon the formation of the Beautification and Termination of Common Property Committee, all courts must refer all cases related to real property rights within the concerned property area to this committee. Furthermore, implementation departments must refrain from enforcing any cases related to the real property rights of that area. Additionally, the Land Record must abstain from accepting and registering any property transactions for the mentioned area until the completion of the operations is announced and the properties resulting from the beautification and termination of common property are registered in the names of their owners in the Land Record.

Law No. 166 of 1967 sets the duration of the Beautification and termination of common property Committees’ work at six months for a property area that does not exceed 100 properties after beautification, and eight months for an area with 200 properties. However, if the committee’s work exceeds these periods, the law states that the committee should not receive any additional compensation. In practice, there are entire areas where the committees have not completed their work despite decades passing since their formation. This includes areas of Damascus, such as in East Tijara, Adawi, and the planning area of South Midan.

Circular No. 4 also requests notaries to refrain from documenting any irrevocable power of attorney that includes the authorisation to sell property in an area where beautification and termination of common property operations have been announced, due to what the circular describes as preventing the obstruction of the committees’ work.

The incomplete work of the committees has led property owners, who are in need to sell their properties, to draft sales contracts and have them notarised as irrevocable power of attorney, wherein the seller delegates the buyer to transfer the property ownership to their name upon the completion of the beautification and termination of common property operations. Thus, the new circular stops this method of selling in areas under beautification and termination of common property until the committees have completed their work, arguing that these notarised irrevocable power of attorney obstruct the committees’ work due to changes in ownership.

The Ansari Al-Gharbi Informal Settlement in Aleppo

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Unlike most of Aleppo’s informal settlements, which are located in the city’s eastern neighbourhoods, the Ansari Al-Gharbi slum is situated in the southwest of the city, connecting to its eastern neighbourhoods in Al-Karroum area to the south. This informal settlement also links what was formerly known as the Ansari village with the neighbourhoods of SalahEddin, Seif Al-Dawla, and Al-Zabdiyah in Aleppo.

Regime forces used Ansari Al-Gharbi as a gathering area for eastern Aleppo inhabitants before their forced displacement at the beginning of 2016. In this article, urban expert Dr Main Kafa details the history of this area and its most prominent features.

Originally, most of the informal settlement’s lands were private agricultural properties where construction was prohibited, except for two properties covering about six percent of the entire area. One property belongs to the Ministry of Awqaf (endowments) and the other to the Aleppo municipality, used as a landfill.

In the early 1970s, some construction contractors started buying land in the area and subdividing it into plots for unauthorised construction. The contractors planned and zoned the area, carving out streets 6-8 metres wide in some parts and narrower in others. By 1973, the built-up area in Ansari Al-Gharbi covered 6.7 hectares, and by 1980, it reached around 35 hectares, according to a Ph.D. thesis by Salwa Sakal from the University of Paris VII in 1984.

The contractors built multi-storey buildings, some reaching up to seven floors, each containing multiple apartments ranging from 60-150 square metres. Few buildings consisted of only one or two storeys. The neighbourhood’s inhabitants are a mix of people from different regions, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, mostly from the rural areas of Aleppo, Raqqa and Idlib.

In 2006, the Aleppo City Council tasked the Engineering Unit at the Faculty of Architecture in Aleppo University to conduct an updated study of the area to address what it described as “collective residential violations” through the implementation of the Building Violations Law No. 1 of 2003, which was in force at the time. The latest Building Violations Law No. 40 of 2012 repealed Building Violations Law No. 59 of 2008, which in turn had repealed Law No. 1 of 2003.

The study, completed in 2009, found that the area covered about 134 hectares, inhabited by approximately 54,000 people, resulting in a high population density of 403 individuals per hectare. According to the study, 10 percent of the inhabitants are renters under lease agreements, most of which are not registered with the municipality to evade taxes. Meanwhile, 90 percent of the inhabitants own their homes, the majority of which are apartments in unlicensed buildings.

Most of the ownership documents held by residents are purchase contracts, irrevocable powers of attorney, financial records, lawsuit notices, water and electricity bills, occupancy statements, or a copy of the Provisional land Register and property registration statement. The possession of official documents by some residents, such as those issued by the Provisional land Register or a property registration statement, suggests that some buildings, especially those extending from the SalahEddin neighbourhood, are licensed constructions, albeit with building violations related to the number of floors.

The study proposed widening streets to a width of 12 metres on one side, merging smaller plots, securing services, and demolishing unlicensed buildings in various locations to ensure sunlight and ventilation in the planning of residential complexes and neighbourhoods. It also suggested unifying the building code system in the area by adopting a five-floor limit for each building and demolishing additional floors, along with implementing three setbacks at a distance of six metres each, (a setback is the required separation between a lot line and a building).

The study was not ratified until 2013, due to delays in bureaucratic procedures and interventions by security agencies. Conflicts of interest among some officials, who purchased properties in the area intending to benefit from them after learning about the study’s content and proposed solutions, also contributed to the delay in ratification.

Before the ratification of the study, in 2012, Ansari Al-Gharbi fell under the control of armed opposition forces. This led the regime forces to bombard it causing widespread destruction, significant human losses, and waves of displacement. With the Russian military intervention in 2015, the area was subjected to intense aerial bombardment until 2016, culminating in a ceasefire agreement and the forced displacement of all inhabitants, including those from Ansari Al-Gharbi.

In mid-2017, the regime forces’ checkpoints surrounding the area allowed some displaced individuals to return to Ansari Al-Gharbi, while the local municipality used bulldozers to open up some streets and remove rubble. Overall, it is estimated that the war and the bulldozing operations in Ansari Al-Gharbi resulted in the destruction of about 40 percent of the total housing stock.

In 2019, the Ansari Services Directorate, affiliated with the Aleppo City Council, launched a cleaning campaign in the neighbourhood in cooperation with the Central Services Directorate and the neighbourhood’s residents’ committee. This campaign covered the main streets and their side alleys. The residents’ committee was formed in accordance with Local Administration Law No. 107 of 2011, led by the mukhtar and members selected by the Executive Office from the neighbourhood’s permanent residents.

In 2019, new unauthorised constructions appeared in the neighbourhood after government officials and officers from the security and military forces controlling the area seized homes, buildings, and lands owned by those who were forcibly displaced or had fled. These individuals, without permits, built additional floors on these seized properties, expanded constructions at the expense of neighbouring spaces, or dug and constructed underground floors. They also took over lands that had buildings demolished by the city council as being structurally unsound, where contractors then erected new unauthorised buildings.

The earthquake on February 6, 2023 resulted in the collapse of many structurally unsound and damaged buildings in the slum, due to the indirect damage from previous bombardments by regime forces and their allies. In September 2023, the Aleppo Governorate issued the third table listing the names of those affected whose residential and commercial buildings and properties were demolished due to the earthquake in the Ansari area. According to the table, the number of demolished plots in Ansari Al-Gharbi totaled 1,081. A plot refers to a piece of land on which a building consisting of one or several floors is erected. The damage to these plots was total, rendering the buildings uninhabitable.

The governorate issued these tables based on the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 3 of 2023 and its implementing instructions, which relate to granting special exemptions and a package of facilities to those affected by the earthquake. This was in accordance with the minutes of the committee formed by the decision of the Minister of Local Administration and Environment No. 554 dated March 20, 2023, chaired by the Governor of Aleppo and ratified by the Minister of Local Administration and Environment.

 

Calls to Subdivide Properties in Upscale District of Damascus

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According to pro-government media reports, during a regular meeting of the Damascus Governorate Council in mid-January 2024, members called for the subdivision and correction of descriptions for the Adawi and Eastern Tijara areas and the issuance of ownership deeds for their properties.

Nouri Salman, the director of the Provisional Land Register at the Damascus Directorate of Cadastral Affairs, explained to the semi-official Al-Watan newspaper that the subdivision and correction of descriptions for these properties are within the jurisdiction of the Damascus Directorate of Cadastral Affairs and the Damascus governorate. He added that to subdivide and correct the descriptions of these properties, a request must be submitted to the Damascus governorate to open a technical mandate for the horizontal subdivision of the area, followed by its vertical subdivision, the so-called “Building subdivision”, after which the deeds can be transferred from the Provisional Land Register to the Land Register in the Directorate of Cadastral Affairs.

The technical mandate is a process of technical inspection of a property to determine its boundaries on the ground, carried out by a committee from the Directorate of Cadastral Affairs, with a representative from the administrative unit to which the property belongs. Opening a technical mandate means submitting a request to the Directorate of Cadastral Affairs in the concerned governorate to schedule a date for the technical inspection of the property.

The correction of descriptions is an administrative transaction conducted by the Directorate of Cadastral Affairs upon request from the property owner. The process aims to match the property descriptions recorded in its Land Record with its actual condition. For example, a property may be recorded as agricultural land while it is actually a multi-storey building.

Meanwhile, the subdivision of a property is a technical transaction conducted by the Directorate of Cadastral Affairs based on a request from the property owners. The aim is to divide the property into separate and independent properties. The property subdivision process is conducted as if the property were commonly owned.

Horizontal division involves:

  • Splitting the land into plots prepared for construction.
  • Assigning each a number.
  • Entering them into the Provisional Land Register.

Subsequently, the owner of one of these plots can obtain a construction permit for a building with multiple floors and residences. After the building’s completion and the sale of these homes, the plot can be vertically subdivided, creating a new land record for each apartment within the building as an independent property. These real estate occurrences are then transferred from the Provisional Land Register to the Permanent Land Register.

The Eastern Tijara and Adawi areas in Damascus are an urban extension, partly informal, located east of Damascus city. Al-Tijara and Al-Adawi are considered upscale neighbourhoods in Damascus, known for their modern construction, spacious apartments, high prices, green spaces, parks, and public amenities. The extension of the area began in the 1950s on agricultural lands known as Al-Adawi orchards.

In Eastern Tijara and Adawi, there are three types of properties: first, licensed buildings on zoned land with ownership deeds, subdivided and registered in the Land Registry, each residence having an independent land record, allowing relatively easy sale and purchase unless there are restraints on disposal against it. Most of these buildings were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s.

Second, particularly in the western part of the Eastern Tijara neighbourhood, are buildings licensed and constructed by housing cooperatives on zoned land. Most are subdivided horizontally, not vertically. These buildings were erected during the 1970s and 1980s. Reasons preventing the vertical subdivision of properties include the death of one of the owners and placing restraints on disposal mark on the entire original property until the heirs agree on dividing their shares or unresolved building violations. In such cases, the real estate occurrences are registered in the Provisional Land Legister using ownership documents issued by the Directorate of Housing Cooperation in the Ministry of Public Works and Housing to establish ownership and complete sale and purchase transactions. However, these are not transferred to the Land Registry because the property has not been subdivided vertically.

Thirdly, there are unlicensed buildings erected on zoned land more than 40 years ago in the far eastern part of the area. Still, they have not been horizontally subdivided and, therefore, not vertically subdivided either. These buildings were constructed in the 1980s, marked by construction chaos in Damascus, when landowners built on their plots before subdividing them horizontally into building-ready plots, yet adhered to the urban planning and building regulations, aiming for future licensing. In the area, there are multiple cases where a single piece of land has several buildings on it. However, it still remains as one property not subdivided into construction-ready plots. Therefore, all these buildings and the residences within them are still owned in common by their owners, with one land record. The process of horizontal subdivision has been hindered over time, especially with multiple building violations, generations of heirs, and restraints on disposal. Many of these homeowners have no proof of ownership other than court judgments affirming their purchase contracts.

According to The Syria Report’s local correspondent, there are hundreds of affected individuals in the second and third types of buildings, where these homeowners and residents cannot secure loans with their properties as collateral, obtain restoration permits, or sell them officially. The market value of these residences is much lower than their counterparts in the same area. Initiating a technical assignment process for description correction and subdivision is not as straightforward as local authorities claim. The Directorate of Cadastral Affairs requires all co-owners of a property to apply for description correction and subdivision, a hard task due to the presence of hundreds of heirs and their legal representatives, not to mention those who have emigrated or are absent.

Various Factors Hamper Restoration of Properties in Old Damascus

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During the regular meetings held by the Damascus Governorate Council in January, members’ interventions focused on the delay in issuing licences for the restoration of old buildings in Old Damascus, which could expose them to the risk of collapse.

Old Damascus has its own directorate under the Damascus Governorate, serving as its municipality. Its jurisdiction is the area within the old walls of Damascus, extending from the Damascus Citadel and Al-Hamidiyah Souk in the west to Bab Sharqi in the east. This area has been listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979.

The semi-official Al-Watan newspaper reported on January 14 that Omaima Abboud, the director of the Old Damascus Directorate, said that a new committee had been formed to inspect old properties in Old Damascus, assess their level of danger, and identify those at risk of collapse.

The committee comprises representatives from the Old Damascus Directorate, the Damascus branch of the Engineers Syndicate, and the Directorate of Service Departments in the Damascus Governorate. However, the formation of the new committee excluded the Directorate of Antiquities affiliated with the Ministry of Culture, the only body with the expertise and personnel capable of identifying damages in the old city and proposing ways to mitigate and repair them without harming the fabric of the old city.

There is a contradiction in the tasks and the need for the new committee. The duties of municipalities in the Damascus Governorate include inspecting buildings at risk of collapse and issuing urgent restoration licences for them. Therefore, the Old Damascus Directorate is responsible for regularly inspecting properties within its scope of work, taking necessary actions to mitigate risks to them, granting restoration licences, and supervising their implementation.

The Damascus Governorate is hindering the municipalities’ authority, including the Old Damascus Directorate, in issuing restoration permits, according to an informed source from the Damascus Governorate who spoke to The Syria Report. The Damascus Governorate is stringent in granting restoration licences (officially named the reinforcement and partial reconstruction licence) to owners of private properties in Old Damascus. The Governorate justifies this by stating that the area is historical and requires special treatment in terms of structural study, and the type and quantity of materials used in restoration. The Governorate also mandates the presence of the property owner or their heirs when applying for a restoration licence. This requirement is difficult to fulfil as Old Damascus is experiencing judicial disputes among generations of heirs over inheritance and old estates, as well as disagreements between tenants and landlords under old residential lease contracts and commercial leases subject to compulsory extension. These complications have led to restraint on disposal marks being placed on many properties’ land records, preventing the acquisition of restoration licences.

For example, a property in Old Damascus containing several residences may remain registered in the name of its owner decades after their death due to disputes among the heirs over the division of the estate. At the same time, that property is inhabited by multiple tenants under old lease contracts in the names of deceased individuals. Thus, disputes over properties in Old Damascus can occur on various levels, between the heirs of the property owners on one hand and between those heirs and the heirs of the tenants on the other. In all these cases, the rental law does not specify the contracting parties’ responsibility for restoration, nor does it oblige any party to undertake the restoration.

With all these complexities, no party can obtain a regular restoration licence. Therefore, to protect against the collapse of the property onto its inhabitants, residents sometimes resort to conducting restorations without a licence, which the Damascus Governorate considers a construction violation under Legislative Decree No. 40 of 2012. Property owners lose the right to obtain a restoration licence in case of violation. Initially, the unlicensed violation must be settled before applying for a new restoration licence. However, the Damascus Governorate no longer accepts the settlement of violations before the issuance of Law No. 40 of 2012. 

The Governor of Damascus insists that the only solution for any construction violation is its removal and demolition. Therefore, it’s notable that members of the Governorate Council have, during recent meetings, called for the settlement of building violations in Old Damascus that can be proven to have occurred before the issuance of Law 40 of 2012.

On the other hand, in the absence of problems between heirs and tenants, residents of Old Damascus face another equally complex dilemma. The area is archaeological, and sometimes there is a conflict of authority between, on the one hand, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Endowments, and the Ministry of Tourism, and on the other, the Damascus governorate regarding the restoration of some properties. 

If the owner of a private property in an archaeological area manages to obtain a restoration licence, the restoration must be supervised by the Damascus Governorate and the Ministry of Culture. If the property is built on a religious endowment property or adjacent to a religious site, the Ministry of Endowments must also be involved in the supervision. The Ministry of Tourism is added if the property has a tourism facility. In all cases, the restoration is at the property owner’s expense alone. These supervisory bodies do not provide any assistance, financial support, guarantees, or banking facilities for restoring damaged properties, even if the property is at risk of collapse. The Damascus Governorate does not intervene in restoring any property at risk of collapse unless it poses a danger to public facilities.

Former Governor Arrested for Unlicensed Construction in Lattakia

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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.

Officials Exonerated after Building Collapses in Aleppo’s Al-Fardous District

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The judiciary’s acquittal of several government employees accused of involvement in the illicit construction that led to the collapse in September 2022 of a building in the Fardous District in Aleppo, killing 14 people, mostly from the Madbess and Madrati families, has led to a local outcry.

The building had been marked for demolition since 2021, with its main door sealed with red wax, following a previous decision by a safety committee affiliated with the Aleppo City Council due to non-compliance with structural safety standards. However, the city council didn’t mind the building owners removing the seal and selling the apartments without the buyers knowing the imminent danger. One buyer, for instance, paid SYP 50 million in late 2021 to purchase two apartments in the building without being informed of the risks.

The Aleppo governor issued Decision No. 9291 on September 7, 2022, forming a committee to investigate the collapsed five-storey building and determine the causes. The committee’s report, published on September 8, revealed that the building, constructed in the second half of 2020, was newly built, unlicensed, and located in an informal settlement. It also noted that the building’s structural elements were hollow blocks, violating Syria’s building code.

The report was forwarded to the Criminal Security branch for further investigation and appropriate legal action against those responsible for negligence to properly supervise or suppress the unlicensed construction, based on the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 40 of 2012 and its executive instructions.

According to Decree No. 40, if an unlicensed building lacks sufficient durability and is at risk of collapse, anyone proven responsible for the violation faces one to three years in prison. If the collapse results in one or more deaths, the punishment is at least ten years of hard labour and a tripled fine, in addition to compensation for the deceased’s heirs.

The semi-official Al-Watan newspaper reported that the Aleppo Criminal Security branch detained the director of the Bab Al-Nairab Services Directorate, where the building is located, the responsible officer of the judicial police in the same directorate, and the building contractors.

A source in the Aleppo City Council told a correspondent for The Syria Report that four engineers and two building contractors had been detained in Aleppo Central Prison since September 2022 in connection with the Fardous building collapse. It appears that pressure was exerted on the judiciary to persuade the investigating judge at the Samaan Court, the court for the area, to drop the Fardous collapse felony case in early 2023 and transfer it to the military judiciary due to jurisdiction reasons. This is because the building contractors responsible for the unauthorised construction were military personnel from the “Auxiliary Forces”, which stands for various pro-regime militias. Sources told The Syria Report that the contractors are affiliated with Al-Baqir Brigade, which is linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

The transfer of the case to the military judiciary was, according to these sources, an attempt to remove it from public view and resolve it informally. This process did not reach its conclusion, albeit for an unclear reason. In April 2023, the military judiciary returned the case to the Aleppo Justice Palace, citing a lack of jurisdiction and without examining the case.

In October 2023, a decision by the investigating judge at the Samaan Court prohibited the trial of the four engineers, while the fate of the building contractors remained unclear. According to the criminal procedure law, if the investigating judge finds that the defendant’s act does not constitute a crime or finds no evidence of it, the judge can decide to prohibit the trial of the accused and release them if detained. The Public Prosecution and the private plaintiff can appeal this decision to the referral judge, who can either confirm the decision to prohibit the trial or issue an indictment and refer the case to the competent criminal court if new evidence is found.

Notably, the investigating judge’s decision in October included an accusation against a deceased engineer, Abdul Qader Qattan, holding him responsible for the earlier removal of the red wax from the unauthorised building before the collapse. Removing the red wax allowed the building owners to sell some apartments. In cases of unlicensed properties, sales are made through regular sale contracts but are not recorded in the Land Registry.

Public prosecutions cannot be initiated against a deceased person. If the defendant dies during the trial, the judge decides to terminate the public prosecution. In such cases, only the private plaintiff can claim compensation from the deceased’s heirs in criminal court solely concerning compensation.

According to the source, senior officials in the Aleppo City Council are behind the recent decisions of the investigating judge. The engineers, who were released from the prohibition of prosecution decision, are also employees of the Aleppo City Council.

 

Demolition of an Illegally Built Mall in Damascus Halted

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On November 5, the semi-official newspaper Al-Watan published a post on its Facebook page stating that a legal solution to halt the demolition of the BigFive Mall, which was built on public property without a licence, in Damascus was reached. As a result, the mall will become the Damascus Governorate’s property. The newspaper indicated that the state will carry out demolition and removal work on the mall when the area’s zoning plan is implemented in five years.

On October 23, the Executive Office of the Damascus governorate unanimously passed Decision No. 990, which included revoking the legal settlement decisions related to unlicensed construction on Property No. 722 in the Midan district. The decision entailed instructing the Directorate of Services Departments in the Damascus governorate to issue immediate demolition orders for unlicensed construction on the property.

The Directorate of Services Departments deemed the previous settlement decisions made in 2018 to be void. These legal settlements were based on evidence from the mall’s investor, claiming the building’s construction violations occurred before 2012. They thus were not covered by the Building Violations Decree No. 40 of 2012. It was later revealed that the evidence provided by the mall’s investor was false and that the violations occurred after 2012, as confirmed by aerial photos of the site.

The investor was warned to leave the premises and remove its contents, facades and equipment within 15 days, after which the Central Demolition Workshop of the Service Department in the governorate would demolish the building.

Initially, the property covered an area of 60 square metres and had a two-story traditional “Arab-style” house. The Damascus governorate expropriated the land in 1964 to build a park, but the plan was never implemented. In 1998, the Ministry of Education took over the property, intending to turn it into a school. Then, in 2005, the Damascus governorate reclaimed the property and decided to convert it into a residential building. It is unclear how the governorate changed the property’s classification to residential while owning it or whether it was leased out to tenants. Throughout these various stages, the building changed and had new floors added and expanded, eventually reaching four stories.

It is unclear when the property’s classification was changed to commercial and when a fifth floor was added. However, this process seems to have taken place before 2012. In 2018, the Damascus governorate issued five demolition orders (No. 6-10) for unlicensed construction on property, but these were not implemented. Later that same year, the governorate issued nine decisions (No. 891-899) to settle building violations on the property.

According to Decree No. 40, to legally settle an instance of unlicensed construction, the construction must have occurred before 2012. It must not pose a structural risk to the building. The violating building or section of the building can be legalised, added to the relevant construction permit and recorded in the Land Registry after the responsible parties pay fines. 

The municipal services directorate is responsible for addressing the violation. The directorate’s duties include calculating fees and fines resulting from unlicensed construction that can be settled and preparing the necessary financial decisions. It sent a committee to inspect the illegal construction site and verify its illegality using aerial photographs of the area taken in 2012 before Decree No. 40 of 2012 was issued. In cooperation with the Ministry of Defence, these photographs were captured by the Ministry of Local Administration through an aerial survey of Damascus. Unlicensed construction within the building, not observable in aerial photos, is compared with the building’s plan attached to the building’s real estate records.

The BigFive Mall is located in the heart of Damascus’s densely populated and commercially active Midan district. The mall overlooks the Southern Ring Road and currently consists of a five-storey building, each floor housing a single restaurant, with juice and ice cream shops in its forecourt. The mall sees busy commercial activity daily and employs about 150 workers.

One of the mall’s notable investors is the Damascene businessman Bilal Al-Naal, a Syrian People’s Assembly member whose role in trade and investment has become prominent in recent years. Mr Naal was previously the general manager of the now-dissolved Desert Falcons security company, which is accused of involvement in war crimes and manipulating humanitarian aid delivered on behalf of various United Nations agencies. He has been on the U.S. sanctions list since 2020. Mr Naal was also a former investor in the Qasioun Mall before it was taken over by his business rival, Wassim Qattan, who currently resides outside of Syria following accusations related to building violations that caused the collapse of a building facade in Damascus’s Al-Malki district.

AbdulGhani Osman, a member of the Executive Office in Damascus Governorate in charge of municipal services and utilities, told the semi-official Al-Watan newspaper that aerial images of the property showed that the unlicensed construction there occurred after 2012, necessitating the implementation of Building Violation Decree No. 40 of 2012. In other words, the unlicensed construction on the site cannot be settled. Mr Osman concluded that the settlements granted to Property No. 722 in 2018 were void, as there is no new building licence on the site, which is still considered a four-storey residential building with a single electricity meter (there is a complaint in this regard from the Damascus Electricity Company, No. 845, issued on October 16, 2023). Consequently, the building was expanded, and an additional storey was added without a permit, along with excessive restoration work.

Mr Osman added that the property could not be expropriated because it is privately owned, contradicting previous statements that it was expropriated for the benefit of the Damascus governorate. This adds to the conflicting official statements about the property. However, it aligns with a declaration by Reema Jourieh, the director of municipal services, stating that Property No. 722 is divided into three parts, according to the zoning plan: one part will be a park, one part will extend a public street, and the last part shares a roof with neighbouring properties. This indicates that the property is partially expropriated but still partly privately owned. However, there is no information about the owners of this section.

Mr Naal or the investors of the restaurants in the mall did not issue statements.

The Damascus governorate’s decision sets a precedent by revoking a building violation settlement file. Obtaining a settlement for a violation, paying its fines, and registering it in the property ledger is a highly complex process, requiring significant influence and years of follow-up with the governorate, the Directorate of Cadastral Affairs, the Directorate of Finance, the police departments and security branches. This usually occurs only after paying substantial bribes, which depend on the value of the property, its location and the extent of the unlicensed construction.

SSG Recovers Public Properties in Idlib

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The Syrian Salvation Government (SSG), affiliated with the hardline Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is working to recover public properties (agricultural lands or buildings) that were taken over by individuals within its areas of control in northwest Syria.

One of the most significant infringements in opposition-held areas is the construction of unlicensed dwellings on public lands. There are two main reasons for these violations: the population growth in the opposition-controlled areas of northwest Syria due to the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Syrians from regime areas and the administrative and organisational chaos that accompanied the initial stages of the establishment of opposition authorities. This is coupled with a lack of planning and urban zoning based on population studies and housing needs.

In addition, other problems are related to de facto powers with influence in some of these unlicensed construction areas, making dealing with some informal settlements a political and security issue. Numerous encroachments on public properties are carried out by influential people and those close to HTS, as well as other Salafist groups associated with it, such as Ansar Al-Tawhid and the Turkistan Islamic Party.

According to the SSG’s Directorate of State Properties, since 2012, 3,852 occupants of public properties in Idlib have been compelled to pay rent, while in 153 cases, the illegal occupiers were removed. Adnan Al-Qasim, the director of State Properties, told The Syria Report correspondent in the area that between 2012 and 2020, some state properties were sold illegally by individuals claiming ownership, or usufruct contracts between public officials and individuals were signed.

In June 2020, the General Consultative Council in Idlib, which acts as the legislative authority, issued State Property Law No. 35, which includes 24 articles, most of which concern private state properties. The law is inspired by the State Property Law No. 252 of 1959, which was issued during the union between Egypt and Syria from 1958 to 1961. There is no available version of Law No. 35 on the official channels of the SSG. It appears that this absence is due to an attack the government faced by Salafists who rejected the law, demanding the application of Islamic Sharia only.

Law No. 35 obliges those infringing on such properties to rectify the violation or pay a fine twice the equivalent rent, to remove their possession, and to dismantle the unlicensed construction. The SSG considers that Syrian state properties have automatically become public properties under its control.

Regarding encroachments on public properties, the SSG applied the building violation law in force before 2011 to address violations occurring before the 2011 uprising.

Meanwhile, a specialised committee reviews unlicensed construction on public properties between 2012 and 2020, addressing them according to Sharia and legal principles and the public interest while considering the State Property Law and the Forestry Law. Those who have acquired a real right on these properties must register it. If anyone violates the conditions of ownership, their rights can be revoked. Moreover, according to Law No. 35, rights of easement, use, and usufruct on state properties can be revoked by a decision from the Minister of Agriculture.

In most cases, the violation is temporarily settled by categorising it as a rental, and the rent is collected from the occupant of the property, whether it is land or a dwelling. In this case, the occupant is not given any legal status as an owner, investor, or administrator of the property. They may be requested to vacate when necessary and hand over the property to the public or municipal authorities.

Many properties unlawfully occupied in this way have been recovered and allocated to the Ministry of Development to establish camps for displaced and evacuated persons. Mr Qasim said that requiring the occupant of the property to pay rent is a form of recovering the property. An official report of the incident is drawn up, including details of the violation, which the occupant signs, acknowledging that it concerns public property.

Unlicensed construction occurring after the enforcement of Law No. 35 will immediately be removed, and the possession of the occupant, who is considered an illegal occupier of the property, is revoked; they may be punished with imprisonment and a fine. If the provisions of this law conflict with another law, the provisions of the stricter law shall apply unless they contradict the provisions of Islamic Sharia, according to sources from the SSG.

Hotel Construction Resumes in Damascus Despite Legal Disputes

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After a 13-year hiatus, a private company resumed construction work in October 2023 on a hotel project in the Kafr Sousseh district near the Council of Ministers building in Damascus. The work continued despite existing court rulings in favour of the local residents against the construction company for infringing on their easement rights.

Kafr Sousseh is a residential area built on part of the Kafr Sousseh orchards south of Damascus city in the 1980s. The area is well-planned, its buildings are licensed, and it is inhabited by the upper echelons of the middle class, particularly businesspeople.

In 2007, Orient Engineering & Contracting, a part of the Toumeh International Group, obtained a licence from the Damascus Governorate to establish a hotel and commercial mall in Kafr Sousseh under a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) system in collaboration with the Mövenpick International Group for restaurants and hotels. The BOT system is a method for implementing large projects, particularly those related to infrastructure, through a concession granted by the public sector to a private entity to finance, design, build and operate a facility for a specified period.

Toumeh Group acquired the right to operate the tourist facility for 25 years, agreeing to pay 11 percent of its annual revenues to the Damascus governorate. The implementation period was set at 1,000 days from the date of signing the contract, with a total value of SYP 500 million at that time (approximately USD 10 million).

According to the certified zoning plan for Kafr Sousseh in 2007, the project site was designated for residential construction, comprising four plots prepared for construction with a total area of 10,000 square metres. Construction was allowed on 12 percent of this area, with a height limit of seven storeys (meaning the area occupied by the building is only 1,200 square metres). The rest of the space (8,800 square metres) was allocated for gardens and amenities owned by the Damascus governorate.

However, before signing the contract with Orient, the Damascus governorate changed the zoning of its plots at the project site from residential to commercial and tourism, based on Urban Planning Law No. 5 of 1982, citing public interest requirements. As a result, the governorate was able to merge the four plots into one to establish a single construction block with a floor area of 8,500 square metres and vary heights ranging from four to 13 storeys, in addition to basements for services and car parking. This area includes malls, swimming pools and recreational spaces.

Orient started the construction in 2008. According to a correspondent for The Syria Report, the company committed multiple “construction violations,” including building without a licence on a heritage Endowments Ministry site from the Ayyubid period, which includes a dome and a mausoleum registered as historical buildings in Damascus city. Building regulations require a 30-metre clearance around heritage sites. Nevertheless, Orient isolated the heritage site with concrete walls and a roof, restricted access to it, and continued construction around it, despite official objections submitted by the Directorate of Tourism and the Directorate of Religious Endowments in the Damascus governorate.

Additionally, the residents who own housing units in the regulated area surrounding the project site have objected to changing the regulatory status of the site and, consequently, to the implementation of the project. Some justified this to The Syria Report’s correspondent, saying that when they bought their flats, they considered the area residential, overlooking gardens. However, the area has been transformed into a commercial-touristic zone, meaning that it will lose its residential character, becoming a source of noise and congestion, and the taller buildings will block their view.

Those residents believe that these changes will cause a decrease in the value of their properties, which, when announced in 2007, exceeded one million dollars per flat (approximately 45 million Syrian pounds). By the end of 2021, the price of an average-sized flat, between 120-170 square metres, in the Kafr Sousseh zoned area was around 2-3 billion Syrian pounds (USD 500-750,000).

The bigger problem was the encroachments made by Orient on the common obligations with the adjacent residential buildings, infringing upon the residents’ rights to easement, all considered violations of the building code in Damascus. According to civil law, the right of easement is an obligation imposed on a specific property for the benefit of another specific property owned by another person. The rights of easement include the right to pass through someone else’s land, to place pillars and towers in shared spaces, to extend electrical and aerial cables, and also the right to access lighting and ventilation. The building code imposes an obligation that prevents construction within five metres on the side of public properties and 10 metres between residential blocks. Orient did not adhere to these obligations and built on the entire plot.

Some of the residential unit owners behind the Mövenpick building filed lawsuits against Orient. In 2010, they obtained judicial rulings confirming the occurrence of violations and infringement of their easement rights, demanding compensation. The financial compensation for those affected by easement rights violations is calculated as a percentage of the value of the property they own.

However, the objectors have not received compensation, and the Damascus governorate did not remove the unlicensed construction. Instead, Orient completed the implementation and construction works, thereby converting the unlicensed construction into a fait accompli, a practice many private entities exploit, leveraging their relationships with influential individuals in the regime. In similar cases, the implementing entities resort to later reconciliation according to the prevailing building violations law after paying bribes to government officials to reduce fines.

At the beginning of 2010, after completing the main building block, Orient stopped its work, closed the project site, and abandoned it. It appears that this decision came after the emergence of engineering and financial disputes with Mövenpick International Group, which withdrew its brand from the project.

In October 2023, Toumeh International Hotels and Tourism Investment, part of Toumeh International Group, began working on the project site from where Orient left off. It is still unclear whether Toumeh International Group has reached a solution with Mövenpick International Group, what happened to Orient, or whether the hotel will eventually bear the Mövenpick name.

In any case, Toumeh International Group belongs to businessman Nabil Toumeh, a member of the Syrian People’s Assembly, involved in tourism investments, contracting, information technology and television production. It is a financier for several local media outlets such as Azmena, Al-Bahithoun, Al-Muaarad, and Al-Aswaq Al-Duwaliya. Mr Toumeh has been on the US sanctions list since 2020 for his activities supporting the regime.

How Serious is the Aleppo City Council’s Anti-Corruption Campaign?

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More than 150 files have been referred to the “competent authorities” after the discovery of serious instances of corruption by the Aleppo City Council, the Director of Internal Oversight for the Aleppo governorate, Abeer Maktoubi, told semi-official newspaper Al-Watan on September 18. 

According to Ms Maktoubi, the Directorate of Internal Oversight receives written or recorded verbal complaints about corruption and other irregularities on the part of the Aleppo City Council. Upon receiving a complaint, the directorate examines the city council’s files related to the complaint, inspects the implemented works, reviews records, documents and data, meets with concerned individuals in the council and in the service directorates, as well as with the complainants, and seeks assistance from technical and legal experts. After that, the directorate prepares a preliminary report on the complaint and may propose referring it to a “competent authority” to investigate the incident.

Most of the violations committed by the city council are issues related to housing, land and property rights. These violations include overlooking and covering up unlicensed construction in exchange for material benefits, granting illegal construction permits regardless of regulations and instructions, the proliferation of unlicensed building and restoration in the old city in a manner inconsistent with its architectural fabric, neglecting to address reports from public safety committees, settling building violations based on forged documents or distorted facts, and forging  documents to buy more cement than granted for a construction project.

These violation cases were reportedly referred to the Central Authority for Supervision and Inspection, the Judiciary, and Criminal Security. These bodies are responsible for implementing recommendations, proposals and decisions to impose penalties and remove or address such violations. Maktoubi affirmed that the legal framework for addressing these cases is found within the provisions of the Building Violations Law No. 40 of 2012.

She added that more than 30 individuals have been referred to the competent authorities following proof of their involvement in the violations, some of whom are still detained. More than 55 individuals, including service and central directors in the city council, department heads, and monitoring workers, such as engineers and technicians, have been fired.

It is difficult to access independent sources in the city of Aleppo to obtain more information about those employees, their responsibilities, and the extent of their involvement in the attributed violations. The Syria Report managed to reach informed sources familiar with the work of the governorate council, who said they doubted the seriousness of the anti-corruption efforts led by Ms Maktoubi. 

The sources confirmed that the 150 individuals referred to the competent authorities are mostly ordinary employees involved in corruption cases; they are not at the top of the corruption ladder. These employees are not supported by security agencies or influential militias in Aleppo, making their prosecution easier. However, the sources emphasised that this path of selective justice has little impact on reducing corruption in municipal councils.

For example, the above sources indicated that no charges have been brought against the director of Services Department at the Aleppo City Council, who is not among those referred to any competent authority. Meanwhile, this director is allegedly involved in violations related to war rubble and the February 6 earthquake in Aleppo city. However, this director is considered to be under the patronage of the city council president, who is in turn responsible for the rubble file, preventing them from being held accountable.

Rubble is a highly sensitive issue in the field of HLP rights, as it is considered private property and the ultimate proof of people’s ownership of their unlicensed properties. Law No. 3 of 2018 (concerning the removal of rubble from damaged buildings due to natural or unnatural causes, or because they are subject to laws requiring their demolition) gave the owners of demolished properties the right to the value of their rubble. It left the determination of that value to the administrative units after selling the rubble in public auctions, or recycling the rubble and deducting the cost of demolition and removal from it. In Aleppo, no one has been compensated for their rubble, and Law No. 3 of 2018 has not been applied. A similar situation occurred with the rubble in Lattakia city after the February 6 earthquake, which was dealt with without referring to Law No. 3 of 2018.

The Syria Report’s local correspondent reported that there is a rubble recycling factory in the Ramouseh area, affiliated with the Aleppo City Council, which has been out of operation for two years. The city council has repeatedly announced that the factory is up for investment, without the auction settling on any investor. The correspondent pointed to the lack of clarity regarding why the factory is not being activated, although working in rubble is considered attractive to many investors. The factory is equipped with an 85,000-square-metre landfill capable of holding up to about 400,000 cubic metres of rubble, up to a height of five metres. Since the factory partially closed, the rubble in it has reached its maximum storage capacity.

Nevertheless, what exists in the landfill is a modest amount compared to the rubble of the eastern neighbourhoods of Aleppo city, estimated at around 3.6 million cubic metres before the February 6, 2023 earthquake. In addition, between 5,000 and 10,000 buildings were damaged in last February’s earthquake, which need to be removed, according to official statements made  to the residents. To this day, it is not clear how much rubble has been recycled in Aleppo amidst significant inconsistency in the official figures.

However, instead of activating the Ramouseh factory, the city council sold a large part of Aleppo’s rubble to private recycling plants, most of which are affiliated with militias supported by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, such as Liwa Al-Baqir. According to The Syria Report’s sources, the political representative of Liwa Al-Baqir, Omar Al-Hassan, has a rubble recycling plant in the Baeedeen area north of Aleppo, and has received hundreds of cubic metres of rubble transferred to it from Aleppo city in the past few months.

All of this occurs without any documentation of rubble ownership, and without any compensation to its owners. Nevertheless, the Internal Oversight Directorate insists on not seeing any violation in the rubble file that would require referring the officials responsible for it to investigation.

Collapse of Wassim Al-Qattan’s Building in Damascus Becomes Security Issue

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The repercussions of the collapse last month of several balconies on a building in Damascus’ central Al-Malki district appear to still be unfolding as the matter shifts from merely an issue of unlicensed construction to a security concern. This shift is due to the sensitivity of the area in which the building is located, next to a security complex that houses the residences and offices of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, his family and his personal security team. 

Sources in the Damascus governorate told The Syria Report that the balconies on the Yassine Al-Tabbaa building overlooking Adnan Al-Malki Square collapsed on September 11. This partial collapse of the building was a result of unauthorised digging and excavation beneath it to expand the basements. The basements should have been reinforced, but were not, leading to the vertical collapse of two concrete columns that were sharing the load of the balconies.

The ground floor of the building is owned by Syrian businessman Wassim Al-Qattan, and the basement expansion was done for his benefit. Mr Qattan, a member of the Rural Damascus Chamber of Commerce, has been on the U.S. and European sanctions lists since 2020 for his role in supporting the Syrian regime. Due to his connections and influence, he obtained a renovation permit for the ground floor of the building, which he exploited illegally to bring in large quantities of construction materials, remove debris from the site, and carry out basement expansion works, converting them into residential apartments. 

According to the Building Violations Law No. 40 of 2012, any work in excess of that listed in the granted permit is considered a “building violation.” The expansion works were carried out without proper engineering planning and without obtaining a prior reinforcement permit.

Sources told The Syria Report that Mr Qattan left Syria immediately after the incident for fear of arrest, and he is trying to communicate with senior officers from the security services to resolve the issue. However, these officers consider the incident a security breach, not a licensing violation. Dozens of members of the Syrian president’s security team have been arrested. Prosecution of those responsible for the collapse continues, with arrests and investigations of employees and officials in the Damascus governorate, as well as engineers related to the matter. The security follow-up is being handled by the Arbaeen Police Department, which is, in turn, affiliated with the Political Security Branch in the Ministry of Interior, responsible for protecting the security complex.

According to The Syria Report‘s correspondent in Damascus, the deputy head of the executive office of the Damascus governorate and other senior officials have been released after the governor’s intervention. However, the detention of the director of service departments in the Damascus governorate is expected to be prolonged, with the executive office in the governorate assigning a replacement. The head of the Muhajireen municipality, where the building is located, continues to be detained. The Damascus governorate is divided into 16 areas, each with its own municipal status, including the Old City. Each municipality is managed by a mayor appointed by a decision of the governor.

The engineer supervising the renovation permits, as well as members of the Engineers’ Syndicate who approved the permit, and the so-called “area engineer” have also been detained. Notably, the area’s engineer remains in detention despite claims that he was prohibited from entering the project site and inspecting the engineering works as his job requires. Each mayor in Damascus is assisted by two engineers, one head of the service department and the other called the area engineer, both appointed by the governor. The engineers are rotated among the different municipalities, ensuring that no engineer remains in their position for more than three months. These engineers are employees of the Damascus governorate.

The Directorate of Planning and Urbanisation in the Damascus governorate is the body responsible for issuing restoration permits, officially known as Reinforcement and Partial Reconstruction Permits. This permit process undergoes extensive scrutiny; the document must be approved by the designated services department in the governorate, the Directorate of Planning and Urbanisation, the local police department, the Engineers’ Syndicate and the supervising and implementing engineer. Meanwhile, the area engineer and the services engineer in the municipal sector to which the property belongs supervise the restoration process. The local police department also visits the site to monitor the restoration process. It has the authority to immediately halt work and apprehend the violators if a permit violation is discovered. 

Usually, these procedures – prey to administrative corruption ≠ are not followed strictly, but due to the area’s security sensitivity, the procedures should have been taken seriously.

Therefore, it is clear that the cause of the security unrest is a permit violation in a highly security-sensitive area, despite all the imposed security and engineering scrutiny. Sources told The Syria Report that the restoration permit was granted to Wassim Al-Qattan without a reinforcement permit. Due to his influence, Mr Qattan was allowed to bring in excess construction materials, inconsistent with the scope of work specified in the restoration permit.

According to The Syria Report’s local correspondent, tracing the hierarchy of responsibility in issuing the restoration permit will inevitably lead to the Governor of Damascus himself. It may result in his dismissal or possibly his arrest, along with other senior officials in the governorate.

Members of the Damascus Governorate Council unanimously agreed to revoke the membership of Malak Hamsho, a member of the Services Sector in the Executive Office of the Governorate Council, in a session held in mid-October. Eighty-two out of the 100 council members submitted written requests to cancel Hamsho’s membership following the balcony collapse. The 82 members are from the ruling Baath Party bloc and a few independent members. Malak Hamsho is the Deputy Director of Services Departments in Damascus Governorate, well-versed in laws and administrative and engineering procedures, and is known for her strict application of the law. The reason for this unanimous decision to cancel Hamsho’s membership and her direct connection to the balcony collapse case remains unclear.

Meanwhile, the governorate and affiliated services departments are witnessing tension and fear among employees, apprehensive of arbitrary arrest and detention outside the legal framework. Employees involved in security-sensitive issues are often detained for long periods without being presented to the judiciary. The detainees’ families are forced to pay large amounts of money and substantial bribes to security officials to improve their loved ones’ detention conditions, while they need much larger sums to conclude the investigation and present the case to the judiciary.

On the other hand, malicious rumours are reportedly spreading among senior officials in the Damascus governorate as part of settling scores between them. Many employees are trying to resign, fearing these rumours, especially since their salaries are already paltry and do not cover transportation costs. However, the Damascus governorate is refusing the employees’ resignations and seems to have referred some of them for administrative and security investigation due to their insistence on resigning.

SSG Restructures the Engineers’ Syndicate in Idlib

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The Syrian Salvation Government’s Ministry of Local Administration and Services issued Decision No. 506 on September 15, which ordered the merger of the Aleppo Engineers’ Syndicate branch with its counterpart in Idlib. This unified entity will be named the Syrian Engineers’ Syndicate, headquartered in the Engineers’ Syndicate building on Al-Qusour Street in Idlib city. The Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) is affiliated with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Islamist group, formerly known as the Al-Nusra Front, which controls vast areas in Idlib and some parts of Aleppo’s countryside.

The Free Engineers’ Syndicate was established in 2014 in opposition-controlled areas, with branches in both Idlib and Aleppo. In 2020, the SSG mandated the restructuring of the Idlib branch, renaming it the Syrian Engineers’ Syndicate in Idlib. The Aleppo branch of the Free Engineers’ Syndicate continues to operate in areas controlled by the opposition-run Syrian Interim Government (SIG) in northern Aleppo without any change. Notably, theAleppo Engineers’ Syndicate branch in Aleppo is an assembly of engineers from areas controlled by the SSG in Aleppo’s countryside, who had separated from their original branch about a year ago to form their own grouping, colloquially referred to as “Al-Dana branch” due to its location in Al-Dana city north of Idlib. This branch is unrelated to the Free Engineers’ Syndicate branch in Aleppo.

Following the earthquake on February 6, 2023, the SSG’s Ministry of Local Administration and Services began downsizing the role of the Engineers’ Syndicate. They blamed the syndicate for the catastrophic results of the earthquake in areas under their control. This accusation seems unfounded since it is not within the syndicate’s jurisdiction, as a professional body, to prevent unlicensed construction or the emergence of informal settlements, which were most affected by the quake.

The ministry had earlier issued Decision No. 307 on May 22, establishing the Directorate of Engineering Affairs and assigning it multiple tasks previously undertaken by the syndicate. These include auditing engineering plans related to administrative transactions, overseeing engineering projects and studies, licensing engineers, classifying engineering offices and companies, and endorsing the engineering teams overseeing all engineering studies in Idlib.

The ministry formed a joint committee with the Engineers’ Syndicate to draft the body’s new bylaws, clarifying its responsibilities, structure, and relationship with the Directorate of Engineering Affairs. These bylaws have not been finalised yet. Despite the absence of these bylaws, the newly restructured syndicate’s roles seem limited to registering engineers and overseeing the operations of engineering firms, according to Said Al-Ashqar, advisor to the Minister of Local Administration and Services.

According to the ministry’s recent Decision No. 506, Engineer Malik Haj Ali was appointed as the head of the syndicate, and six engineers were assigned as members of the new syndicate council. Engineer Hassan Othman was charged to chair the syndicate’s internal audit committee, consisting of three members.

Multiple sources from the Idlib branch of the Engineers’ Syndicate told The Syria Report that the branch effectively ceased being an independent professional entity after Decision No. 307. Its remaining capabilities are now limited, with some sources indicating that the SSG has relegated the syndicate’s engineers to mere processors of engineering transactions at the Directorate of Engineering Affairs in the ministry.

The head of the Free Engineers’ Syndicate branch in Aleppo, Engineer Khaled Al-Othman, told The Syria Report that syndicates are civil entities and should remain outside the formal governmental sphere. He said he was surprised by the dissolution of an elected and legitimate professional body and its replacement by an official governmental entity. Rather, syndicates serve as protective umbrellas for professionals and are supposed to be independent technical and supervisory bodies.

SSG Demolishes Idlib Residential Buildings for Road Expansion

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The Ministry of Local Administration and Services in the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) began a campaign in September to demolish properties and homes to widen the road connecting the city of Al-Dana to the town of Deir Hassan, in northern Idlib countryside. The demolition operations included both licensed and unlicensed buildings. The road expansion aims to alleviate the severe traffic congestion in the area, which is home to many camps for Syrian IDPs.

Those opposed to the road expansion say it has had negative impacts on shops and building owners, who have not received compensation. They believe it benefits some traders who purchased properties on either side of the road, anticipating their value to rise after the expansion. The road expansion is expected to attract investors interested in establishing shopping centres, restaurants and parks on both sides of the road, similar to the situation on the Bab Al-Hawa-Idlib highway. 

Many buildings were constructed on both sides of the road after 2011, during the period when the area fell out of the regime’s control, and before the establishment of the opposition-run local councils in northern Idlib. Later, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Al-Nusra Front) would take control of the area in 2014.

One local homeowner told The Syria Report that he built his home in late 2011 on land he owns. However, he expanded his construction onto land earmarked for road expansion in the old zoning plan for the area. Last June, like other property owners, he received a notice from the Ministry of Local Administration and Services to vacate and demolish the parts of the building that were unlicensed. Then, in September, the ministry forced the owners of unlicensed buildings to demolish them themselves and remove the rubble at their own expense. Those owners received no compensation for their demolished properties. They also received no financial or logistical assistance in demolishing them, as they were built on public property without a licence, as the local homeowner said.

Notably, the ministry did not issue a decision to expropriate the targeted lands for road expansion and has no clear legal methodology for compensating the owners.

Saeed Al-Ashqar, an advisor to the SSG’s Minister of Local Administration and Services, told The Syria Report that the demolished buildings were mostly unlicensed and built within the road expansion zone. He refuted claims made by some owners of demolished unlicensed buildings that they received no compensation. He said that only three unlicensed buildings were completely demolished, and their owners were compensated, without specifying the amount or method. The owners of nine other partly-demolished unlicensed buildings were compensated.

Licensed buildings were demolished in agreement with their owners, and they received compensation from the SSG, according to Mr Al-Ashqar, who did not specify the compensation amount. Licensed buildings that were demolished date back to a time before the old zoning plan, which included road expansion. In contrast, licensed buildings set back from the road by a minimum distance and with a front setback were not demolished.

Mr Al-Ashqar further argued that the road serves over a quarter of a million people. The road’s expansion and rehabilitation are initiatives by the Ministry of Local Administration to stimulate trade and the economy in the area and address the traffic congestion. A new zoning plan for Al-Dana city was introduced at the beginning of 2022, including road expansion. Al-Ashqar said that the expansion will increase the road’s width to 24 metres over a distance of 1,750 metres, and the area will be serviced with the necessary infrastructure, including electricity, water, and sewage networks.

Wassim Qattan’s Unlicensed Construction Causes Partial Collapse of Central Damascus Building

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On September 11, balconies collapsed on a building overlooking Damascus’ Adnan Al-Malki Square, in one of the city’s most upscale neighbourhoods. The building is next to a complex that contains residences and offices of the Syrian president, his family and members of his personal protection team. 

Damascus governorate sources told The Syria Report that the partial building collapse was due to unlicensed excavation and digging underground to expand the basement level – in violation to the given rehabilitation permit. Before the new basement support base could be finished, the building partially collapsed due to the failure of two load-bearing concrete columns. 

According to multiple sources who talked to The Syria Report correspondent, Syrian businessman Wassim Al-Qattan owns the ground floor of the building, and the unlicensed excavation work aimed at expanding the basement on his behalf. 

Qattan, who is a member of the Rural Damascus Chamber of Commerce, has been on the U.S. and E.U. sanctions list since 2020 for his role in supporting the regime. His business activities focus on commercial and tourism investment. He has also signed contracts with  the Damascus governorate to develop and manage on its behalf the Qasioun Mall in the Barzeh neighbourhood and Masa Plaza Mall in the -Malki neighbourhood. Mr Qattan also won a tender from the Ministry of Endowments to invest in the Yaluegha complex in central Damascus, and he is under contract with the Public Sports Federation to invest in the  Al-Jalaa Hotel on the Mazzeh highway.  

The partially collapsed building was originally owned by Yassine Al-Tabba, who originates from from Damascus. It consists of three storeys, like the adjacent buildings, which were all built in the 1950s. These buildings, constructed with relatively outdated techniques, rely on reinforced concrete and stone, with the load distributed on the walls and pillars. Demolition of some internal walls often leads to partial or total collapses. 

Risk in this area is heightened by a network of concrete sewage channels beneath it, through which wastewater and excess water from the Tora River, a tributary of the Barada River, flow. This network is old and poorly maintained, continuously leaking water into the foundation layer of the buildings, a problem that also applies to the Abu Rummaneh, Rawda, and Malki neighbourhoods, in Damascus.

Most local residents are from the upper class, though a noticeable number of apartments have been abandoned since before 2011 due to emigration. The number of empty homes only increased during the war years. Some apartment owners have died, and their heirs have disagreed on the inheritances, further complicated by the emigration of some heirs and ensuing legal issues. 

Despite this, apartments in the area are among the most expensive in Damascus, with the price of a single unit ranging between USD 1.4-2 million, depending on the size and location. Consequently, during the war years, these neighbourhoods were among the investment destinations for the war’s affluent class, including businessmen close to the regime, militia leaders and some officers in the security and military services. New owners often renovate or restore these old apartments after obtaining a renovation permit from the governorate.

According to the Damascus governorate’s website, a committee of engineers from the governorate, the Engineers’ Syndicate and the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Damascus University investigated the causes of the recent balcony collapses. It concluded that there had been a violation of the rehabilitation permit, though it  did not specify the type of violation. After formally recording the incident with the police, the governorate referred some individuals found responsible for the violation to the judiciary, based on Law No. 40 of 2012.

The Director of the Services Departments at the Damascus governorate confirmed that the Central Demolition crew in her directorate, which is responsible for removing unlicensed construction within the geographical boundary of each directorate in Damascus, is currently re-examining all renovation permits, especially for ground floors, basements and roofs, and checking the quantities of building materials used in the rehabilitation.

The Directorate of Planning and Urbanisation in the Damascus governorate is the body responsible for issuing rehabilitation permits (officially called “reinforcement and partial reconstruction permits”) after the property owner submits a request accompanied by numerous documents, including a Land Registry extract, a plan identifying property boundaries and neighbouring buildings, a zoning plan of the area showing the property number to be renovated, and various other documents. There must also be a description of the property and any internal subdivisions, a structural plan detailing the placement of columns and walls, detailed pictures, amounts of the required construction materials approved by the Engineers’ Syndicate, a written pledge not to commit any unlicensed construction, and, finally, approval from all owners of the building or permission from the judiciary. 

The final permit is approved by the designated Services Department in the governorate, as well as the Directorate of Planning and Urbanisation, the area’s police department, the Engineers’ Syndicate, and the supervising and implementing engineer. The district’s engineer and the services engineer, in the municipal sector to which the property belongs, oversee the rehabilitation process. The area’s police department visits the site to monitor the rehabilitation and has the authority to immediately halt work upon discovering a permit violation and apprehend those responsible.

In this particular case, the collapsed building falls under the jurisdiction of the Arbaeen Police Department, which in turn is affiliated with the PoliticalIntelligence  security branch in the Ministry of Interior, responsible for protecting the adjacent security complex. Its extensive authority includes the neighbourhoods ofMazraa, Muhajirin, Sheikh MuhiEddin, Abu Rummaneh, Rawda and Malki, reaching all the way to Omeyyad Square and the Army Command Air Force branch. The department’s patrols and checkpoints oversee verifying the identities of rehabilitation crews and the amount of building materials brought into the area, and ensure that they stick to the terms of the rehabilitation permit. Police have the right to bar entry of excess building materials due to suspicions that they might be used for unlicensed construction.

During the war, the area was inspected more than once to scrutinise the rehabilitation crews and monitor their work, especially when it involved excavations, fearing the opposition might dig tunnels in the area surrounding the security complex. Joint security patrols from various security branches, including the Republican Guard, conducted inspections using sophisticated communication devices to check the sounds coming from the work sites. These patrols prevented rehabilitation work on several properties overlooking security and presidential sites. Security forces can prevent the implementation of a permit, even if it is entirely legal and no matter how minor the required work; obtaining and executing a property rehabilitation permit requires a good relationship with multiple parties and often involves paying bribes to employees.

Despite all this scrutiny, the area witnessed many permit violations over the past years. Licence holders often violate the terms of the rehabilitation permit and bribe monitoring committees and police patrols. Still, permit violations can be settled with the governorate via payment of fines. 

Recurring violations include expansion at the expense of other obligations, building additional storeys, installing external elevators, expanding apartments at the expense of balconies, expanding basements, and digging new basements. Digging new basements involves underground expansion of the building for the purpose of creating new rooms, stores, or sometimes entire apartments. This type of violation is the most dangerous to the structural integrity of buildings.

Laws on Urban Expansion and Informal Settlements in Aleppo City

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On the outskirts of the eastern, northern, and southern districts of Aleppo city, 22 informal settlements have emerged, founded and inhabited by impoverished migrants from rural areas. These include Tal Al-Zarazir, Ansari, Harat Al-Shahadin, Salaheddin, Fardous, Karam Al-Daadaa, Haydariya, Sheikh Faris, Sheikh Khader and Sheikh Said. Three large informal settlements have expanded around villages outside Aleppo city: Nairab, Handarat, and Ansari. These were gradually incorporated into the city’s general zoning plan at different stages.

The expansion areas west of the city were zoned according to urban expansion laws that limited residential expansion to unregulated and undivided areas within the city’s general zoning plan. However, there are districts in western Aleppo that feature widespread unlicensed construction. These fall within the city’s administrative boundaries and zoning plan. The most notable of these are the districts of Rashidin and Kaliria. However, nobody refers to them as unlicensed construction areas because today, they are high-end residential communities inhabited by the middle class and do not suffer from a lack of services. Also, there are two large, old informal settlements west of Aleppo city and outside its zoning plan: Khan Al-Asal and Kafr Dael.

All the above-mentioned informal settlements were included in the amendment issued in 1991 to the approved zoning plan for Aleppo City. This amendment gave the homes there the status of two-storey Arab-style housing, which is a relatively new urban category specific to these areas. Under this designation, pre-existing buildings consisting of two storeys were licensed, which is the case for the majority of buildings in these areas, provided that they have at least 25 percent of the construction plot area without a ceiling, and that the width of the street onto which the building faces is at least five metres. The goal of that 1991 amendment was to regulate these areas and control unlicensed construction. However, the licensing for this new urban housing category was, in practice, only applied to properties belonging to people who had been given demolition notices in the area northwest of the Hanano district. And in 2012, with the issuance of the new zoning plan for Aleppo, the “Arab-style housing” category was removed from the building code system.

In 2000, the government issued Urban Expansion Law No. 26, amending Urban Expansion Law No. 60 of 1979, meant to solve the informal settlements in Aleppo. Article 7 of Law No. 26 identified several methods for dealing with these areas:

  • The first method was to apply the provisions of City Division and Urban Planning Law No. 9 of 1974, under its first and second sections, either through zoning or division. Typically, a local administrative unit undertakes the zoning process in unoccupied or sparsely populated areas, as the process is lengthy and complicated. Established informal settlements are subjected to division, allowing property owners to subdivide their properties. In both instances, the administrative unit is allotted a third of the area free of charge to construct roads, squares, public buildings and other facilities.
  • The second method involved the local administrative unit expropriating the necessary lands within informal settlements to create roads, squares, parks, public buildings and residential subdivisions per the Expropriation Law No. 20 of 1983. This method significantly burdens administrative unit councils due to compensation costs, and they lose the free third they could have gained through division or planning. Ultimately, only the main axes that will be expanded through this method will change.
  • Finally, the third method considered informal settlements as urban expansion areas, applying the second article of Urban Expansion Law No. 26 of 2000. This meant the complete takeover of the settlement, followed by preparing a detailed zoning plan after deducting the free one-third of its area. After estimating their value, the resulting residential divisions are dealt with, with 60 percent sold at cost to public entities and housing cooperatives, and 40 percent to property owners in the area. However, this solution cannot be applied to informal settlements already densely packed with buildings.

In 2004, the Aleppo City Council identified several informal settlements where it could apply Law No. 26 using the third method mentioned above. These included Al-Haidariya, where demolition notices had been issued, an area of mass unlicensed construction entirely confiscated for the benefit of the City Council. Also included were Jabal Badro and Sheikh Najjar. The City Council began preparing detailed zoning plans for these areas and tasked the engineering unit at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Aleppo to propose planning solutions for other informal areas like Tal Zarazir, Al-Ansari, and the remaining informal settlements in 2005. However, none of the above methods were actually implemented in addressing Aleppo’s informal housing. 

Council of Ministers Bans Amendments to Zoning Plans

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On July 17, 2023, Syrian Prime Minister Hussein Arnous issued Circular No. 15/17-B, which prohibits modifications to general and detailed zoning plans to protect these plans and preserve urban cohesiveness. However, preventing these modifications means halting the routine process of amending zoning plans and building codes to adjust to ongoing urban changes. This new circular could also expand the scope of what administrative units consider to violate their zoning plans and building codes.

The circular included multiple instructions regarding zoning plans, most notably prohibiting changes to the building codes, especially in terms of increasing the number of storeys in a building. Each administration unit in Syria has a building code that outlines the conditions and specifications for construction in various urban areas. The July circular prohibits any changes in setbacks, which are requirements imposed by the building codes on the proposed construction plot, in terms of size, dimensions, allocations, height, and more.

The purpose of preventing modifications to building codes and setbacks in a given area is to maintain that area’s general zoning plan, which provides a vision for future residential neighbourhoods and their expansion. A general zoning plan sets the urban boundaries, the road network, and land uses for the administrative unit in a given area, distinguishing between private and public property. The July 17 circular prohibits any changes to the zoning categories of properties in a zoning plan’s area, especially public buildings and parks, to prevent affecting the plans and the future vision for the site and to maintain urban planning principles. Such plans are the foundation upon which the process of zoning plans, detailed and otherwise, and building codes for each administrative entity are based. They identify the current and future needs of the population within the administrative unit in line with current conditions, population density, and public services and facilities.

The circular also specifies procedures for adopting vital public benefit projects, such as hospitals, schools, and tourism projects. The process for such projects begins with a proposal from the local administrative unit, then the governor’s approval, followed by permission from the minister concerned with the project, and final approval of a special committee known as the Services and Infrastructure Committee. 

The Services and Infrastructure Committee was created by Prime Ministerial Decree No. 38 in July 2016, aiming to study and audit legislative projects referred to in its field of competence. The body also prepares studies, discusses emerging issues in its field, offers proposals and solutions, and studies all other matters referred to by the Council of Ministers. The committee comprises 11 members, chaired by the Minister of Local Administration. It includes the ministers of Public Works and Housing, Tourism, Administrative Development, Health, Communications and Technology, Transportation, and Water Resources; the Minister of State for Affairs on Following up on Southern Region Projects; the Head of the Planning and International Cooperation Commission, and a representative from the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.

Notably, the July circular contradicts Urban Planning Law No. 5 of 1982, which regulates the mechanisms for issuing zoning plans. Law No. 5 allowed the Ministry of Public Works and Housing to modify the zoning programmes for populated areas. The 1982 law also allowed local administrative units to introduce modifications required by public interest into such plans or building codes, provided they are consistent with local urban planning and zoning programmes. Law No. 5 did not prohibit the modification of regulatory categories that lead to the development of plans, such as the construction of buildings, facilities and other installations that meet the needs of residents after studying those needs and objectives.

In contrast, the most recent circular did not specify the methods to modify such plans. According to Law No. 5, amending a given area’s general and detailed zoning plan, and the building code, is a routine procedure that follows the following steps: The administrative unit declares the proposed modification by decree of the Minister of Housing after one year has passed since the first issuance of the zoning plan or building code in question. Afterwards, objections to the modification are received within a specified deadline. Then, the modified plan or code must be re-announced every three years.

 

New Amendments to the Damascus City Building Code

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On March 6, 2023, the executive office of the Damascus governorate council issued Decision No. 302, amending particular articles of the building code system in Damascus. The decision was published in the lobby of the Damascus Governorate in mid-June 2023, aiming to allow objections within one month. After studying the complaints, the Damascus governorate will approve the new building code system and submit it to the Ministry of Public Works and Housing for ratification and publication in the Official Gazette.

A building code consists of administrative decisions issued by an area’s administrative unit council and approved by the relevant governorate and the Ministry of Public Works and Housing. The regulations in a code stipulate the necessary conditions for constructing, repairing and demolishing buildings and facilities within the boundaries of the administrative unit. Each unit has its unique building code system, issued according to the standards of the area’s zoning plans and based on urban planning laws. Building codes determine the proper building proportion of a plot of land, the height of floors, distances between buildings and more. Building codes are considered one of the foundations of urban planning, including detailed and general zoning plans. 

Decision No. 302 included amendments to articles in the Damascus city building code issued under Decree No. 492 of 1997. Some of these amendments are substantial, and some are only surface-level. 

The most significant amendment was to Article 165, related to the current state of construction. It is now possible for the Directorate of Urban Planning and Zoning to consider licensing buildings constructed without licenses between 1948 and the date of issuing the new building code, according to the construction system in place at the time of the building’s completion. For this to occur, a surface cadastral survey, a real estate registry extract, and a photographic representation of the current architectural state of the entire building must be provided. The amendment allows the completion of the structure according to the urban method in the area, provided that a technical report is secured and authenticated by the Engineers’ Syndicate on the structural safety of the building.

Also, the other notable amendment related to housing, land and property rights is the following: 

  • Adding a definition of the so-called “technical floor” to the definitions section in the first chapter. This refers to the floor containing the building’s mechanical equipment, such as heating, water pumping, treatment equipment, etc. This floor is considered joint property for the building owners or the buildings sharing this equipment. Using this floor for any purposes other than its intended use is prohibited. This floor does not count in the calculation of floor surface area. However, it is subject to financial fees according to the Financial Law of Administrative Units No. 37 of 2021.
  • Amending Article 3 to grant a construction permit only after verifying the applicant’s ownership. Also, the permit may be amended in the name of the legal heirs after being ratified by a Sharia judge, and with the judge’s approval in case a minor is present. The Sharia judge is the judge in charge of examining personal status issues.
  • Amending Article 7, related to conducting unlicensed construction during the implementation of a building project. Under the new amendment, the person who violates the construction permit, whether the owner or the contractor, will be suspended from working in the domain of construction permits within the governorate for five years. However, the governorate has the right to ask the Engineers’ Syndicate to punish the engineer responsible for the unlicensed implementation, according to their speciality, in line with professional standards. The decision still exempts the offending engineer from punishment if they submit a written report about the violation within a week of its occurrence. A paragraph has also been added to Article 7, stating that the Licensing and Construction Department in Damascus governorate is the body that issues the order to start excavation and construction work after the building permit issuance, so long as the property is free of encroachments.
  • Amending Article 9 regarding the duration of a construction permit so that the time of the license is now three years for buildings consisting of six or fewer storeys. Four months are added for each additional storey, so long as the permit period does not exceed five years. An additional year is added for modifying the permit. Meanwhile, an amendment to Article 10 stipulates a halt to construction work when the permit period ends and not to continue work before extending or renewing the permit with the approval of the Damascus governorate council’s executive office. The permit holder must apply for its extension a month before its expiry, provided they prove that the non-completion of the construction is due to reasons beyond their control.
  • Amending Article 12 related to the renewal of the construction permit. Under this amendment, the license renewal goes according to the building code on which it was granted, or according to this new system if construction work has not started yet. However, the permit renewal only covers any storeys not yet built or the work not yet executed under the original permit. Many documents must be presented to renew the permit, including the real estate’s land record summary.
  • Amending Article 30, which is related to housing permits. Housing permits are now to be given in two stages, according to Building Plot Construction Law No. 82 of 2010, as follows: the first permit is given after inspecting the building to ensure its structural safety before starting the interior cladding work. The second permit is given after the building’s interior and exterior finishes and after ensuring no unlicensed construction has occurred.
  • Amending Article 83 related to residential units. According to the amendment, the smallest residential unit should be no less than 35 square meters (previously, the minimum was 29 square meters). It should contain one or two rooms with a net area of no less than 20 square meters. The smallest dimension, i.e. the length or width of the room, should not be less than three meters, and the area of each room should not be less than nine square meters. The kitchen area should not be less than six square meters, with its smallest dimension not less than 2.4 meters. The combined bathroom and toilet area should not be less than 3.6 square meters. While the amendment of Article 84 is also related to residential units, it requires that the net width of the internal corridor in the residential apartment should not be less than 1.1 meters.
  • Amending Article 93 related to the room allocated for a building’s caretaker. Its surface area on the ground floor should now be at least 12 square meters instead of the previous minimum of 10 square meters. 
  • Amending Article 102 related to the “last” or highest roof space of a building, where the staircase covering must be replaced by an opening that provides access to the last roof via a metal ladder. Joint water tanks must be placed on the roof, as well as the installation of a central television antenna and allowing the installation of solar panels on the roof. An amendment to Article 108 also mandated the existence of a car garage in the basement for all residential and non-residential divisions.

 

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