President of the Syrian Coalition, Abdurrahman Mustafa, stressed that the Assad regime is seeking to bring about a demographic change in the country after it has recently begun to confiscate property of displaced Syrians, thus further discouraging displaced Syrians from returning.
Mustafa on Thursday told the Turkish Anadolu Agency that “the Assad regime has begun to compile lists in preparation for the confiscation of the property of the displaced. He added that the Assad regime’ judiciary has been releasing lists of the names of those who were expropriated.
The Assad regime does not need a pretext to put his hand on the property of citizens as it looks at the country as his private property, Mustafa said, stressing that the regime intends to confiscate the money of millions who fled the country.
Mustafa added that “the Syrian Coalition has been raising this issue at all international levels,” calling for “exerting pressure on the regime to force it to backtrack this procedure.”
“We have received information that the regime is seeking to legitimize the confiscation of citizens’ property through a special directorate that was established for this purpose.”
Mustafa’s remarks came a few days after Human Rights Watch announced that Russia and the Assad regime were attracting funding for reconstruction. Under the guise of property rights law, the Assad regime would prevent IDPs from returning to their property.
The Syrian Coalition earlier warned that “the Assad regime has taken effective measures to legitimize the seizure of Syrians’ property through the creation of a special directorate for the implementation of Decree 66, the announcement of new lists of specializations for property owners in the district of Kafarsousa, Al-Mazza, Darya and Al-Qadam, and putting its hand on the property of opponents.
The Coalition said that the “the amendments the Assad regime has recently introduced to Decree 66 have fallen short of ensuring protection for the rights of the Syrians nor did they dispel the fears of the opposition. It noted that displaced Syrians would not be able to give warrant of attorney to one of their relatives to claim their rights on their behalf due to the lack of safe environment and independent judiciary in the current conditions. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
