Giant Qatari conglomerate bets on Syria reconstruction

Syria was always an aspiration, but few could have predicted how quickly the Assad regime would collapse or how rapidly the country would shift from an Iran-Russia orbit toward one increasingly aligned with the West and Gulf states. That transition — and Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz — has elevated Syria’s importance as a logistics corridor for trade, oil and gas, data cables, and as a geopolitical buffer that Gulf states hope will keep Iranian influence out of the Levant.

Al-Khayyat said his team had been preparing for an eventual return to Syria for years, maintaining an internal plan that was constantly revised. “We had a document that we kept updating,” he said. “Every few weeks or a month, we would discuss it.”

Syria’s political transition provided the opening, and Qatar — which supported the Syrian opposition for more than a decade — developed the closest ties with the new leadership in Damascus. Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was the first head of state to visit the country after the transition. US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, a longtime friend of President Donald Trump who previously managed money for Qatari royals, has attended signings of several PIH agreements, giving the projects greater political weight than a purely commercial transaction.

While the airport is perhaps the most visible project, the largest commitments are in energy. Syria needs roughly 10,000 megawatts of electricity, but currently has only around 5,000 megawatts available on the grid, according to Al-Khayyat. “All the 5,000 megawatts are under construction as we speak,” he said.

The company is also bidding for a telecoms license alongside Doha-based operator Ooredoo and has invested in local banks. Agriculture is another priority, beginning with an effort to revive Syria’s cotton industry, once among the largest in the world. A proposed $3.3 billion initiative is part of a broader agricultural strategy that Al-Khayyat said could create 200,000 jobs.

“The main question always is how many jobs you’ve created in the country,” he said. “This is the direct impact.”

I was familiar with the family’s business when I moved to Doha in 2014. They kept a low profile, but had developed a reputation as capable contractors. Their restaurants were already popular. Then the embargo happened.

I wrote the first stories about the “flying cows” in 2017, which turned the Al-Khayyats into a symbol of how quickly Qatar was able to mobilize capital and logistics during the crisis.

The brothers, now billionaires and longtime naturalized Qatari citizens, always maintained a strong affinity for Syria and are putting money into projects that most investors would consider too risky.

Many Syrians are suspicious of their intentions. The optics of deals being signed in the presidential palace, combined with ties to the Trump family, raise concerns that a new elite is being built on the ruins of a weak and devastated state. The Al-Khayyat family prospered under the previous regime, and some relatives were sanctioned for supporting the government and profiting from the war.

These are not trivial concerns. They highlight how business and politics increasingly overlap. While this blending is common in the Middle East, many Syrians who supported the revolution fear replacing one privileged class with another.

When I posed these questions to Ramez Al-Khayyat — as someone who has visited Syria repeatedly over the past 18 months and seen the scale of the destruction firsthand — it became clear that we share a pragmatic view. The investments are necessary, but risky, and there are very few takers for projects of this size and complexity.

The reality is that many Syrians can benefit if Al-Khayyat — who is 41 and built his career during one of the largest infrastructure booms in modern history — brings his experience, and capital, home.

The questions around political access, favoritism, and governance should be monitored by both the public and a transparent legal system, which Syria does not yet have. This interregnum could be rife with abuses. But if no one steps in, there will be no development. Syrians will continue spending their nights in the dark.

The Al-Khayyat family’s rise traces back to an unlikely opportunity in 2006. When Qatar began sponsoring development projects in Syria, the family won a contract to build the Palmyra Camel Race Track. “They gave us a mission impossible,” Al-Khayyat said.

The company delivered the project in six months. That was a “great achievement that we exceeded expectations and this is how we built trust with the Qataris at that time,” he said.

The contract led to more work, an invitation to Doha, and eventually a central role in Qatar’s $200 billion infrastructure boom ahead of the 2022 World Cup.

Al-Khayyat attributes the company’s success to a combination of serendipity and execution. Meeting the Qataris was luck; delivering was what mattered.

“We have not been selected because we have a connection,” he said. “We have been selected because we are the best and we can deliver.”