Syrian and Saudi officials announced on Saturday five “strategic” agreements concerning aviation, telecommunications and water desalination. A strong act as Syria begins its economic reconstruction.

Published on: 02/07/2026 - 5:12 p.m. Modified on: 02/07/2026 - 7:15 p.m.

Riyadh and Damascus signed several “strategic” agreements on Saturday February 7. The plans, including the launch of a joint airline and the development of a Syrian telecommunications network, aim to rebuild the Syrian economy devastated by more than a decade of war, officials from Syria and Saudi Arabia said.

Since the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Saudi Arabia has for its part sought to get closer to a country that has long remained in the spheres of influence of Iran and Russia.

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Among the agreements, "a Syrian-Saudi low-cost airline" called "Nas Syria", said Talal al-Hilali, head of the Syrian Investment Authority, during a joint press conference with Saudi Investment Minister Khaled el-Faleh.

This agreement includes the construction of a new airport in Aleppo (northern Syria) with a capacity of 12 million passengers and work on the current airport.

A billion dollars in the SilkLink project

A project called SilkLink aims to develop “telecommunications infrastructure and digital connectivity” in Syria, detailed the head of the Syrian Investment Authority. It will see the light of day thanks to “an investment of around $1 billion,” said Syrian Minister of Telecommunications, Abdulsalam Haykal, during the signing.

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Another agreement concerns water desalination and development cooperation.

The Saudi Minister of Investment, Khaled el-Faleh, also mentioned the launch of an investment fund for “major projects in Syria with the participation of the private sector” (Saudi). Khaled el-Faleh stressed that the two countries wanted to establish a “strategic partnership”.

The agreements target "vital sectors that touch people's lives and constitute essential pillars for the reconstruction of the Syrian economy", commented Talal al-Hilali.

“This is just the beginning”

The United States definitively lifted American sanctions on Syria in December. In July, Riyadh had already signed investment and partnership agreements with Syria worth $6.4 billion.

“This is just the beginning,” an official from the Saudi Investment Ministry told AFP on Saturday. It is expected "that investments will extend to all sectors which constitute an urgent priority for the lives of Syrians", he assured.

The US special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, welcomed these agreements, estimating on X that "strategic partnerships in aviation, infrastructure and telecommunications will contribute significantly to Syria's reconstruction efforts".

Analyst Benjamin Fève, a specialist in the Syrian economy, nevertheless remains cautious about their scope. “In the short term, I would say that these agreements have more importance as a political signal than as a factor of economic change,” he notes, judging that the projects selected “are not a priority and are not sufficient to rebuild the country”.

Syria had been the subject of international sanctions since 1979, reinforced after the repression by the power of Bashar al-Assad of pro-democracy demonstrations in 2011, which led to civil war. The so-called "Caesar" law - adopted in 2019 during Donald Trump's first term and definitively repealed in December - imposed drastic American sanctions, including the banning of Syria from the international banking system and financial transactions in dollars.

The cost of rebuilding Syria could exceed $216 billion, according to the World Bank.

During a visit to Saudi Arabia at the end of October, Ahmed al-Charaa said that his country had attracted $28 billion in investments since the fall of Bashar al-Assad. In April, Saudi Arabia and Qatar pledged to settle Syria's debt to the World Bank, which stands at around $15 million.

With AFP

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