Syria and Saudi Arabia sign more than $6 billion in investment deals

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DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria and Saudi Arabia announced 47 investment agreements, valued at over $6 billion, in Damascus on Thursday, marking a significant step in rebuilding Syria’s war-battered economy.

The agreements signed at the Syrian-Saudi Investment Forum cover a wide range of sectors, including real estate, telecommunications and finance. The planned projects include housing, the reconstruction of war-damaged areas, the development of tourism, medical and entertainment sites, skyscrapers, and three new cement factories.

Syrian Minister of Information Hamza al-Mustafa said the deals are expected to create around 50,000 direct and 150,000 indirect job opportunities.

Saudi Arabia has been strongly supportive of the interim government in Syria led by former insurgent commander President Ahmad al-Sharaa since the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a lightning rebel offensive.

The country faces major economic and social challenges. The United Nations in 2017 estimated that it would cost at least $250 billion to rebuild Syria after years of civil war. Some experts now say that number could reach at least $400 billion.

The Saudi deals come as a political boost to Syria’s interim government at a moment when the country is reeling from a new round of sectarian violence that broke out in the southern province of Sweida earlier this month.

Clashes broke out on July 13 between Sunni Muslim Bedouin clans and armed groups of the Druze religious minority, and government security forces who intervened to restore order ended up siding with the Bedouins.

Members of the security forces allegedly killed Druze civilians and looted and burned homes. Druze armed groups later launched revenge attacks on Bedouin communities. Israel also intervened, launching strikes on convoys of government forces and on the Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters in Damascus, which Israeli officials said were in defense of the Druze religious minority.

Hundreds have been killed, and the U.N. says more than 130,000 people have been displaced. The fighting has stopped as a ceasefire takes hold, but tensions remain high and the violence has further shaken the trust of religious minorities in the new government.