Syria’s new interim government is reportedly set to demand $300 billion in compensation from Iran for the damage it caused to the war-torn country throughout the civil war.
According to the outlet Al-Modon, an unnamed source close to Syria’s new post-Assad administration as saying that a compensation of $300 billion is intended for “the Syrian people and the Syrian state, for the harm caused by Tehran’s ‘criminal and arbitrary’ policies to the Syrians and the Syrian infrastructure during its military alignment with its militias in favour of the regime of the ousted president, Bashar al-Assad”.
Throughout the 13-year-long civil war in Syria, Iran provided military support and billions of dollars in assistance to the late Assad regime, fighting against the former rebels now governing the country in an effort to expand and maintain Tehran’s regional influence.
That endeavour left the former Syrian regime with tens of billions of dollars in debt to the Iranian government, leading Tehran to now demand from the new Syrian authorities the repayment of that debt, despite having fought against them during the conflict.
According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei last week, however, the reports that Iran demands between $30 and $50 billion from the new Syrian government “are truly very exaggerated”.
The source quoted by the paper also denied any ongoing communication between Tehran and Damascus, saying contact is “completely cut off” and that the “new administration has no current plans to engage with Iran, whether regarding an embassy in Damascus or a consulate in Aleppo”.
Source » middleeastmonitor