Rand Shamaa

In a first since the late 1990s, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, travelled to Damascus and met with Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad on March 19.

In a major shift in the Syrian banking landscape, Banque Bemo Saudi Fransi has taken over the stakes of Lebanon’s Byblos Bank SAL in its Syrian subsidiary, Byblos Bank Syria SA, leading to BYB's official departure from the Syrian market after 19 years operating in the country.

The United Nations has proposed the establishment of a new entity, the Early Recovery Trust Fund, that will deal with early recovery funds across all areas of control in Syria. The U.N. Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator, Adam Abdelmoula, told The Syria Report that ERTF is “just a concept note at the moment” that has been shared “with all humanitarian partners for comments.”

One hundred and ten truffle pickers have been killed in this truffle harvest season (from February to April), according to pro-regime newspaper Al-Watan, while the UK-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights has documented the death of 64 truffle pickers so far in 2024. Truffle hunters face landmines and ISIS attacks while picking this prized fungi in desertic areas, mostly in the Deir-ezz-Zor and Raqqa governorates, the heartland of the Syrian truffle.

A week after the visit of high ranking officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency to Damascus re-establishing official communications with the government of Bashar Al-Assad, the Atomic Energy Commission of Syria and the Russian state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the field of peaceful uses of atomic energy.

Fish production has reached 13,000 tonnes this season, reaching pre-conflict levels, according to the Minister of Agriculture, Hassan Qattan, quoted in an Al-Thawra article published on March 28. In 2010, fish production stood at 12,770 tonnes, half of it saltwater fish and the rest freshwater.

The Damascus governorate has provided two plots to a construction contractor to erect buildings designated for alternative housing within Basilia City, Muamar Al-Dakak, the director of the Technical Studies Directorate in the Damascus Governorate, stated during a session of the Damascus Governorate held at the beginning of March.

A letter from the Office of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, No. 3039/1, issued on March 6, maintains the requirement for security approvals on certain real estate transactions “for the time being,” but has eased some of its other requirements and effects.

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.

Following the massive leak of personal data of 3.3 million Syrians living in Turkey on July 4, the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has received calls “through its national counselling lines from Syrians expressing concerns that data leak may impact their safety,” Selin Unal, UNHCR Turkey spokesperson told The Syria Report.