Syria’s new ‘Law Number Ten’ devastates Sunni refugees

AFEW days remain until the 5/11/2018 deadline for 12-13 million Syrian refugees fleeing the continuing carnage in their country to prove property ownership and hopefully avoid the current regime auctioning it. These millions, the majority of whom are Sunni and many suspected of wanting a new government, stand to lose their homes and property under a new property registration law signed by President al-Assad on 4/2/2018.

Law Number 10 sets in motion a massive political and legal overhaul of the government land registry and gives Syrian refugees, whether inside the country or abroad, just 30 days to prove ownership of their houses and property. All Syrian refugees must present their deeds to local council offices in the country. By last week, they had one week and if they failed to do so the state will liquidate their titles and seize their holdings. Once the registration window closes, “the remaining plots will be sold at auction,” according to Article 31 of the law.

An estimated 5,7 million Syrians have fled the country as refugees, and a further 6.8 million people are displaced inside Syria. Consequently, more than 12 million Syrians risk losing their homes. The UN estimates that only approximately 9 percent of Syrians who fled the slaughter even have in their possession access to documentation showing ownership.

Most Syrian refugees lost them Deri during the war before fleeing. Various UN and human rights organisations have urged Syrian refugees not to try to return to their homes at this time given the high security risks of doing so and likely having to repeat, countless near-death experiences and perhaps not being as lucky this time. Between 2015-2018, volunteers with the Meals for Syrian Refugee Children Lebanon (MSRCL) conducted an unscientific poll of Syrian refugees we became friends with in Lebanon. We asked why they left Syria and what dangers forced them to leave. Below is a list of reasons that MSRCL were given by fleeing Syrians seeking refuge in Lebanon.

Some refugees forced to flee Syria experienced more than one war crime or crime against humanity from the list below. But all experienced at least one.

*Among the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Syria against refugees seeking safety in Lebanon, and which Syrian refugees risk re-experiencing if they return to their country before a just political settlement is achieved, include but are not limited to the following:

Attacks on medical personnel and rescue workers

“Double Tap” bombings and shillings of family and neighbours engaged in rescuing victims Conscription of child soldiers Government attacks on civilians Starve or surrender sieges Theft of civilian’s property and homes Kidnapping of civilians for ransom Indiscriminate use of weapons against civilian housing Arbitrary arrests, Enforced disappearances, Torture, Deaths while in the custody of Government forces Sexual violence and slavery Ethnic cleansings Sectarian population transfers based on force Kidnappings ad executions Deportations and other forcible transfers of population Use of chemical weapons Poisonous substances including Sarin, Chlorine and Mustard gas Violence against civilian activists Use of captives as human shields Attacks on media and journalists Attacks on local Christians, Yazid, and other minorities

Use of cluster munitions in violation of United Nations resolution 2139 of 22 February 2014,

Use of white phosphorus against targets in Raqqa. Idlib, and elsewhere causing civilian casualties Shelling of civilian area Air strikes on densely populated civilian areas

Dropping of barrel bombs on civilian neighbourhoods

Indiscriminate bombings of Schools, Churches, Mosques, markets and public gatherings. What will become of the property of millions of Syrian refugees who cannot and will not be able to meet next week’s deadline set by Law Number 10 or who may be wanted by the regime or have a relative who might be? Several million former homes and properties will almost certainly be sold by the Syrian authorities. But to whom? The buyers will be among the most trusted family members and business associates of the Assad and Rami Makhlouf families who are not on the US Treasury Departments, Office of Financial Assets Control (OFAC) Terrorism and Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) lists which would render them radioactive for foreign banks and business given their US and often EU sanctioned status.

A new clique of businessmen has been forming under Bashar Assad’s control and are benefiting from the regime’s crony capitalism, while maintaining close family, political or social ties to the al-Assad’s.

This select group has begun concentrating ownership of major telecommunications, energy and Construction industries and according to the Financial Times they number fewer than 170 businessmen led by President Assad’s cousin, Rami Makhlouf, who the FT estimates owns more than sixty percent of Syria’s national economy with other members of the al-Assad family owning approximately fifteen percent of the kleptocracy.

Reported to now be part of this group is Mr Samer Foz, until recently a largely unknown businessman in Syria and who so far has ducked under the radar of the US Treasury Departments OFAC sanctioning juggernaut. Mr Foz has also to date avoided various SDN and “terrorist” designations while working on maintaining a ‘clean’ image away from politics.

To date he has not been stung by targeted sanctions, asset freezes and a travel ban by the United States and European Union on the Assad regime’s business partners who are leveraging financial assets to assist the regime in perpetrating violence against civilian protesters.

According to sources inside Syria, the regime plan is for Mr Foz to buy up hundreds of millions of dollars from Baath Party controlled Property Registry Offices “undocumented” property belonging to millions of Syrian refugees who could not meet the 30-day deadline to prove their ownership or are suspected of being sympathetic to rebel groups. Samer Foz has become one of Syria’s most powerful economic players, to the extent he is now dubbed the “new Rami Makhlouf”.

In the last couple of years, Mr Foz’s business interests have rapidly expanded beyond importing and trading grains and building materials. His ascendancy into the upper echelons of Syria’s business elite is attributed to his close ties to the Syrian president, He specialises in the acquisition of distressed assets of Syrian businessmen that are no longer in favour with the regime. Mr Foz also owes his rise to the new business activities and networks that have risen with the war such as the “forfeited” property of Syrian citizens who cannot return with acceptable documentation to claim it. If there is serious competition on the horizon for Mr Foz and other regime allies to vacuum up hundreds of millions if not billions of real estate dollars in Syria which is rightfully owned by Syrian refugees, it is Iran.

Since 2013 the Islamic Republic has been ravenously buying up high end real estate and buildings in Damascus as well as farm land in certain rural areas, since 2014 giving Tehran a considerable amount of power over its neighbours in the long term.

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