Dubai developer Mohamed Alabbar is planning housing and tourism developments in Syria worth at least $20 billion, including homes, resorts, and schools in Damascus and the coastal city of Latakia. The proposed projects — part of a wave of Gulf capital being poured into Syria’s reconstruction — align with a broader effort to keep the country out of Iran’s orbit. For UAE property developers that were facing a slowing home market even before the Iran war, Syria also represents an international growth opportunity.
Alabbar’s Syria ventures will be run through his Abu Dhabi-based firm Eagle Hills, which has close ties to the emirate’s ruling family, rather than via Dubai-based Emaar. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa calls him periodically to check on progress, Alabbar told Bloomberg, adding that he isn’t deterred by the risk: “We’ve had incidents, we’ve had bombings, but I’m from the Middle East … I know the game.”