Researcher and analyst looking at Lebanon, Syria and the wider neighborhood. Century International Fellow. Former Crisis Group. "Jamajem" means ☠️.
www.abujamajem.com
Sam Heller | سام هيلر
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So this is basically where we’re at, and have been for a little while:
Looping video promo for sci-fi-looking Qassioun Journey development in Damascus's Umayyad Square highlights the dissonance between the Syrian government's enthusiastic promotion of deluxe real estate projects and the country's more threadbare reality:
Ya, easy to say IS "collapsed" when you're working from fake, junk data; and when you exaggerated its activities for years, to political ends
أول سؤال طرحه الجمهور في جلسة "بلورة الرؤية الاقتصادية، ونموذج الحوكمة، وخارطة الطريق للتنفيذ" في حوار القطاع الخاص الذي انعقد في دمشق أول هذا الشهر:
"كيف نطمن للاستثمار ونحن نشعر ان قرارات الحكومة لا تشاور بها الغرف ولا تشارك بها الوزارات ! مثال قرار Back to back المبادلة"
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… Because, as @economist.com notes, trucking is not an efficient way to transport oil, and building a pipeline will be a much more involved, expensive project.
For more on Syria's aim to become a conduit for international trade, see: tcf.org/content/repo...
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Syria's facilitation of Iraqi oil exports demonstrates the former country's potential as a regional transit hub, but also how the Syrian government's aspirations to economic connectivity run up against the country's depleted material circumstances…
www.economist.com/middle-east-...
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At last week's Syrian Private Sector Dialogue, the very first audience question to the panel "Charting Economic Vision, Governance, and the Roadmap to Achieve" asked how investors could feel confident when the government might arbitrarily impose things like back-to-back transloading:
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Late to this, but worthwhile @polgreen.bsky.social dispatch from Lebanon: www.nytimes.com/2026/06/03/o...
فما قرار المبادلة / المناقلة / الباك تو باك، ولماذا اشتكى منه عدد من المشاركين في حوار القطاع الخاص؟
لمعرفة خلفية هذا القرار وكيف يدل على طبيعة النظام السوري الجديد، أنظروا لدراستي الأخيرة:
tcf.org/content/repo...
So what was that questioner talking about? And why were other attendees also complaining about transloading at Syria's borders?
To know more, see my report on the Syrian government's February transloading decision and what it says about the country's new regime: tcf.org/content/repo...
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Sam Heller | سام هيلر
The revival of an old oil-export route from Iraq to the Mediterranean helps Syria’s new regime
Israel will for sure try to pivot to Lebanon front and leave the U.S. holding the bag in Iran: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/15/u...
🤔 bsky.app/profile/abuj...
On February 6, Syrian freight truck owners and drivers mounted a national strike and organized demonstrations on key road arteries across the country.
tcf.org
At last week's Syrian Private Sector Dialogue, the very first audience question to the panel "Charting Economic Vision, Governance, and the Roadmap to Achieve" asked how investors could feel confident when the government might arbitrarily impose things like back-to-back transloading:
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Sam Heller | سام هيلر
Sam Heller | سام هيلر
Slim but non-zero chance this all ends with Trump getting mad at Netanyahu for duping him into a loser war, Trump deciding that Trump/U.S. is anti-Israel now
