Syrians hope fall of Assad regime will lead to improvement of dire economic conditions

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(25 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus, Syria - 11 January 2025
1. Various of Samir al-Baghdadi, a 46-year-old Syrian, walking on rubble next to and inside his damaged house
2. al-Baghdadi fixing electricity
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Samir al-Baghdadi, a Syrian trying to rebuild his house:
++PART OVERLAID BY SHOTS 1 & 2++
"Financial resources are basically nonexistent. As you can see, the rubble needs machinery to be cleared, and that costs money—money we don't have."
4. Various of al-Baghdadi smoking a cigarette and drinking tea
5. Various of Abou Samir, a 68-year-old Syrian carpenter working inside his shop at Damascus old marketplaces
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abou Samir, carpenter:
++PART OVERLAID BY SHOT 5++
"The economic situation is dire. If we’re talking about electricity, for example, I only have it for an hour a day—or maybe less. This affects the entire country. With just one hour of electricity, I can’t produce anything."
7. People walking in Damascus old marketplace

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus, Syria - 14 January 2025
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Sinan Hatahet, economic researcher and nonresident senior fellow at Washington-based think tank Atlantic Council:
++PART OVERLAID BY SHOTS 7 & 9++
"Without jobs, without huge flows of money, investments, financial support from donor countries, these families have no way of making ends meet."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus, Syria - 11 January 2025
9. Various of Damascus old marketplace
STORYLINE:
Syrians hope the fall of Bashar Assad's regime will lead to the improvement of dire economic conditions as the country begins to rebuild under a new government.

Samir al-Baghdad is rebuilding his destroyed family house in the Qaboun neighborhood near Damascus, Syria‘s capital. His house, like scores of others nearby, has been reduced to heaps of rubble during years of civil war.

Al-Baghdadi can’t afford to hire workers or rent a bulldozer to clear the debris and fix the house. He makes just about enough money as a mechanic to feed his family. But he’s desperate to rebuild it because he is struggling to pay skyrocketing rent for an apartment.

“Financial resources are basically nonexistent,” al-Baghdadi said, sitting on a pile of rubble and debris where the house’s entrance used to be. “The rubble needs machinery to be cleared, and that costs money—money we don't have.”

Although Syrian President Bashar Assad was toppled last month in a lightning insurgency, the country’s dire economic conditions that protesters decried have not changed.

The economy has been battered by corruption and 13 years of civil war. Coupled with international sanctions and mismanagement, inflation skyrocketed, pulling some 90% of the country into poverty. Over half the population -- some 12 million people -- don’t know where their next meal will come from, according to the U.N. World Food Program.

Sinan Hatahet, an economic researcher at the Washington-based Atlantic Council think tank, said families will struggle "without jobs, without huge flows of money, investments, financial support from donor countries."

The United Nations in 2017 estimated that it would cost at least $250 billion to rebuild Syria. Some experts now say that number could reach at least $400 billion.

AP Video by Abd Al Rahman Shaheen

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