Saudi Arabia announces Damascus area reconstruction project to clear rubble

Aid from the kingdom’s charity KSRelief will also help rebuild dozens of schools and bakeries throughout Syria.

Saudi Arabia has announced a new project to help with clearing rubble and doing reconstruction in Syria’s capital, Damascus, deepening the kingdom’s ties with the new authorities in Syria.

The state-backed King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre charity (KSRelief) said on Sunday that it would provide an aid package that would help clear an estimated 75,000 cubic metres of rubble from the capital and its surroundings.

Abdullah Al Rabeeah, who leads KSRelief, said at an event in Damascus that the charity was “honoured to inaugurate a number of humanitarian projects for the Syrian people”, including those focusing on health, food security and education.

The aid will also help rebuild 34 schools in Aleppo, Idlib and Homs, reconstruct dozens of bakeries, and rehabilitate sewage and water infrastructure in Damascus.

In a post on X, Syria’s Minister for Disaster Management Raed al-Saleh said the agreements signed between the two countries would enhance “humanitarian response efforts and reconstruction in Syria, affirming the strength of the humanitarian and brotherly relations between our two countries”.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Gulf countries have been providing economic support to Syria since the fall of the government of former President Bashar al-Assad late in 2024 after a 13-year civil war.

According to its website, KSRelief has or is operating 422 projects across Syria worth more than $500m. The majority are in health and food security.

Saudi Arabia has been a major backer of the new government in Damascus, led by transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former rebel who was born in the capital Riyadh, and went to the country for his first international visit.

In May, Saudi Arabia helped broker a meeting between al-Sharaa and United States President Donald Trump, who later pushed to remove all sanctions against Syria.

In July, Saudi Arabia announced that it would invest $2.9bn in the country, and pledged to cover Syria’s debt to the World Bank along with Qatar.

Syria’s gross domestic product contracted almost 70 percent from a 2011 high during the war, which left devastating destruction throughout the country.