In the Bab Srijeh neighborhood of Old Damascus, residents say municipal permits to restore decaying buildings are elusive, but contractors with government connections hold the key.
Amina al-Fares lives with her family of 11 in an abandoned mill in the countryside of Tal Tamar, in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province. The family was displaced from their home near Ras al-Ain in 2019, and lived in the open for many months until they found this place. But they now risk being expelled by its owner.
For former residents of Darayya’s al-Khalij neighborhood southwest of Damascus, hopes of return are fading as fears of property violations mount seven years after the regime retook control. Residents are not allowed to return, but many also find themselves unable to sell.
The homes of Syrians displaced from regime-controlled areas including Yarmouk camp and the southern Idlib countryside are being systematically looted and destroyed in their absence, as Damascus-affiliated groups tear them apart in search of materials that can be recycled and sold.
Abu Khashab camp was established in 2017 on agricultural land lent to local authorities by a prominent family from the area. But the land has since been claimed by another family, who never agreed to turn it into a camp. Three years later, legal deadlock persists, stalling some aid programs.
Five years after residents of Damascus’ Jobar neighborhood were displaced, they are still denied return. The release of Development Plan 106 last June has only heightened fears and uncertainty about the future of their property.
Despite legal advances for religious minorities in AANES-controlled regions in recent years, most Yazidis in Hasakah province are still landless peasants with no formal rights over the houses and villages they built.
Damascus’ Decree 3 of 2023 provides tax exemptions and loans for those whose property was damaged or destroyed by the February 6 earthquake, but does not take into account displaced property owners and rights-holders or areas outside regime control, writes lawyer Manhal Alkhaled.
Former residents of the Palestinian Yarmouk camp in Damascus face a “legal battle” with the Syrian regime regarding decisions on rubble removal, heightening fears they could lose their property.
Eight years after the Islamic State attacked Assyrian villages along the Khabour River in Hasakah province, less than 10 percent of the community has returned to its historic home. What are the housing, land and property issues faced by this community in exile? And how do Assyrians see the future of their villages, which have become home to thousands of displaced people?
