The News
Syria signed its first major reconstruction deal, sealed weeks after US President Donald Trump decided to lift sanctions in a signal of a shifting regional order. Washington’s envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack was present at the signing of the $7-billion gas and solar power project, as were US military officers working alongside predominantly Kurdish forces who had battled against Islamic State militants. Barrack later raised the US flag at the ambassador’s residence in Damascus and called for a non-aggression pact with Israel, saying the two sides should start talking about “boundaries and borders.”
The power project includes four gas plants and a solar farm that would generate 5,000 megawatts, and will be executed by Qatari, Turkish, and US companies. It’s expected to create more than 50,000 jobs and return almost half of the country’s pre-war power capacity.