A special investigation has established the extent of the Assad regime’s demolition of an area of Damascus, formerly held by opposition factions, to replace it with upmarket developments.
The investigation — by The Guardian, Lighthouse Reports, Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism, and Rozana Radio — examined the levelling of Qaboun, in the northeast of the capital.
The area resisted pro-Assad attacks for years. It was damaged and largely depopulated, but buildings were still standing when Qaboun was reoccupied by regime forces in May 2017 and the remaining residents were expelled.
The regime has covered its demolition of homes with the claim that it is removing mines.
Assad’s officials have carried out clearances of Damascus areas for years, both for military housing and for developments for the upper class. However, the schemes have accelerated as the regime seeks foreign investment in real estate.
Mazeena Saadi, a former Qaboun resident now living in Denmark, speaks of the social re-engineering, “It’s a kind of revenge on the people of Qaboun and to make sure there is nothing to return to. I think it is a message from the regime for the people of Qaboun. There is nothing for you here.”
The Assad military has announced almost 1,000 demolitions in the last year across regime-controlled parts of Syria, declaring the “removal of explosive devices left behind by the terrorist groups”.
However, images, videos and social media posts from Qaboun establish that this is a pretext for the large explosions. “Humanitarian mine action has completely different systems, purpose and outcome,” explains Per Håkon Breivik, head of de-mining at Norwegian People’s Aid.
The demolitions have been supported by regime legislation allowing to expropriate land and homes. Residents have to return to Syria to claim their property, and a 2015 law gives officials the power to redraw boundaries in times of war and other disasters, seizing the land of informal housing settlements.
Analyst Joseph Daher says that, so far, there is little construction fulfilling the plans to remake Qaboun, even as the pretense of Assad’s “reconstruction” is stripped away.
The regime is completely lying when it’s saying that it wants the return of refugees. This is not the case. It doesn’t want them and it doesn’t have the capacities or the financial infrastructure to take care of them.
