UN urges reconstruction support as Syria’s recovery remains uneven

Senior UN officials urged the Security Council on 12 October to back reconstruction and basic services in Syria, arguing that its political transition will depend on improvements people can feel in daily life. Their appeal came as economic activity showed signs of recovery, but many people returning home still faced insecure housing and livelihoods. [1]

Claudio Cordone, the UN’s deputy special envoy for Syria, said sanctions relief had opened opportunities for investment and financial cooperation, while higher fuel prices were raising transport and production costs. “The task now is to translate these opportunities into sustained support for Syria’s recovery,” he told the council. UN humanitarian official Mohamed Yahya made the case for help beyond immediate relief: “Emergency aid alone is not enough.” [1]

The return of displaced Syrians since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024 does not, by itself, show whether families can rebuild their lives. In a survey of 7,120 households during the first quarter of 2026, the UN refugee agency found that 82% of the returnees interviewed intended to stay where they were. It also found that their prospects depended heavily on work, housing and basic services. UNHCR cautioned that the survey had limits in coverage and representativeness. [2]

There are grounds for economic optimism alongside those concerns. The World Bank says more frequent indicators point to an emerging recovery, although official data are limited and uneven in reliability. After a visit in July, IMF staff forecast double-digit growth for 2026, while warning that poverty remained widespread and growth varied between regions. The forecast is not a measured result for the year. [3] [4]

The scale of rebuilding remains formidable. In 2025, the World Bank estimated that restoring physical assets damaged during the 2011–2024 conflict would cost $216 billion, with a range of $140 billion to $345 billion. [8]

Security remains another obstacle. Cordone cited violence in Homs, al-Suqaylabiyah and Nubl and reported Israeli military activities in southern Syria. He repeated the UN secretary-general’s call for an end to violations of the 1974 disengagement agreement. Separately, the UN human rights office said it had recorded about 280 incidents involving armed Israeli incursions in September through open-source monitoring. [1] [5]

After a confrontation in al-Suqaylabiyah earlier in October, Syrian authorities said security forces had restored calm and made arrests. Christian community representatives quoted by SyriacPress criticised what they considered inadequate protection for residents. International Crisis Group had previously reported improving security in much of Syria alongside recurring local violence — a reminder that neither recovery nor insecurity is uniform across the country. [6] [7] [9]