Saudi Arabia announces $5.6 billion in Syria investments

A Saudi delegation visiting Damascus on Wednesday sealed investment and partnership deals valued at more than $5 billion to help rebuild war-battered Syria, the oil-rich Gulf kingdom announced.

Saudi Arabia has been a major backer of the new Syrian government, which seized power after Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December following 14 years of civil war.

The delegation of some 150 investors and representatives of the Saudi public and private sectors, led by Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih, attended meetings in Damascus ahead of a forum on Thursday.

"Announced investments, estimated at 21 billion Saudi riyals ($5.6 billion), target key vital sectors including real estate, infrastructure, communications and information technology, aviation and navigation, industry, tourism, energy, trade" and more, a statement from the investment ministry said, revising an earlier total of 19 billion riyals.

On Tuesday, the ministry had said the Damascus forum aims to "explore cooperation opportunities and sign agreements that enhance sustainable development and serve the interests of the two brotherly peoples".

Syria's Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa told a press conference that the deals announced Wednesday would be officially signed at the forum.

A Saudi investment ministry official confirmed to AFP that Falih would be in attendance.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump formalized the dismantling of US sanctions on Syria, hoping to reintegrate the country into the global economy.

He had already lifted most of the measures in May, responding to appeals from Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

The US president met Syria's interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa during a visit to Saudi Arabia the same month.

Sharaa, a former jihadist, had also paid a visit to Riyadh in February in his first trip abroad since Assad's ouster.

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia and Qatar pledged to settle Syria's debt to the World Bank, totaling about $15 million.

Despite vows to unify the country, the new government in Damascus has struggled to maintain order, with deadly clashes involving minority groups raising questions about Syria's stability.

Bloody violence in Sweida province earlier this month started with clashes between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin tribes but soon escalated, with Israel later intervening with air strikes targeting government installations.

More than 1,300 people, mostly Druze, were estimated to have been killed during the fighting, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.