ALEPPO: The historic Khan Al-Harir souk in war-torn Syria’s erstwhile economic capital of Aleppo has reopened following restoration work, but much of the former workforce that energized it remains exiled.
“Reconstruction works are done and this is great, but it’s not enough,” said Ahmed Al-Shib, a 55-year-old textile merchant who had hoped to pass his business onto his sons.
“What we want is for our sons to return to these stores,” he said during the reopening of the covered market this week, showing pictures he had sent to his eldest who moved to Algeria three years ago to join his brother.
Khan Al-Harir (silk souk) — one of 37 markets surrounding Aleppo’s famed citadel — attracted thousands of tourists and merchants before the onset of Syria’s conflict in 2011.
It was hit hard in fighting between rebels and regime forces that damaged as much as 60 percent of Aleppo’s Old City, according to estimates by the UN’s cultural agency, UNESCO.
The market officially reopened on Sunday — five years after the Syrian government regained control of Aleppo.
Restoration works erased traces of some of the conflict’s most brutal battles but it did little to console traders who have lost much more than just their stores.
In Ahmed’s fabric shop, a portrait of his father — the founder of the family business — adorns a freshly painted wall.
Like many others in Khan Al-Harir, Ahmed fears the family’s store may die with him.
“My children live in Algeria, and the children of other traders are scattered between Egypt, Irbil” in northern Iraq and elsewhere, he said.
“There are a lot of trades that will be threatened if our sons continue to emigrate.”
Syria’s conflict has killed nearly half a million people, forced half of the pre-war population from their homes, and decimated the economy and infrastructure, with more than 80 percent of its residents now living below the poverty line.
As a result, Aleppo, long considered one of Syria’s main commercial hubs, has lost many of the merchants and businessmen who once gave the city its economic edge.
Many have sought business opportunities elsewhere, with neighboring Iraq and Turkey popular destinations.
Ahmed Al-Damlakhi took over a fabric shop in Khan Al-Harir from his brother who emigrated to Turkey with his children several years ago.
Under a freshly renovated arch dotted with white and black stones, the 65-year-old greeted neighbors he hadn’t seen in years.
He started a video call with his brother in Turkey to show the scene in the market, where traders had gathered outside their shops amid a trickle of customers.
“I am optimistic about the reopening of the market ... but we are missing merchants and investors who are now scattered across the Arab world and have established businesses there,” he said.
Although he wished his brother was with him to celebrate the reopening, Damlakhi said the reasons that initially pushed him out had not changed.
“We used to depend on tourists and visitors coming from the countryside and other provinces ... but the economic situation is now very difficult,” he said.
“Western sanctions, meanwhile, create obstacles in relation to imports, exports and overall trade,” Damlakhi added.
“So long as the situation doesn’t change, it will be hard for my brother and his sons to return.”
The vast souks, the oldest of their kind in the world, stretch from the western part of the Old City to the gates of the citadel in the east, covering an area of around 160,000 square meters. For centuries, they were the commercial heart of the ancient city and served as a key trading hub between the East and the West.
Restoration works began two years ago after Syrian authorities signed a partnership agreement with the Aga Khan Foundation in Syria. The renovation of Khan Al-Harir — home to some 60 stores — took around a year to complete, and preparations are underway for two other markets to also be restored.
“The area was a pile of destruction, and today we can say that the market’s infrastructure has been completely rehabilitated,” said Jean Moughamez of the Syria Trust for Development, a government-linked agency overseeing restoration works.
But the exodus of traders poses a challenge, he admitted.
“We’ve had difficulty communicating with shop owners who are outside Syria, especially those who do not have an agent taking care of their shop affairs,” Moughamez said. “We cannot work alone, and we need everyone’s cooperation.”
Shadow of exiled hangs over Aleppo souk
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Shadow of exiled hangs over Aleppo souk
- Khan Al-Harir or silk souk attracted thousands of tourists and merchants before the onset of Syria’s conflict in 2011
Syria’s leader set to visit Berlin with deportations in focus
- Sharaa is scheduled to meet his counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German president’s office said
BERLIN: Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is expected in Berlin on Tuesday for talks, as German officials seek to step up deportations of Syrians, despite unease about continued instability in their homeland.
Sharaa is scheduled to meet his counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German president’s office said.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s office has yet to announce whether he would also hold talks with Sharaa during the visit.
Since ousting Syria’s longtime leader Bashar Assad in late 2024, Sharaa has made frequent overseas trips as the former Islamist rebel chief undergoes a rapid reinvention.
He has made official visits to the United States and France, and a series of international sanctions on Syria have been lifted.
The focus of next week’s visit for the German government will be on stepping up repatriations of Syrians, a priority for Merz’s conservative-led coalition since Assad was toppled.
Roughly one million Syrians fled to Germany in recent years, many of them arriving in 2015-16 to escape the civil war.
In November Merz, who fears being outflanked by the far-right AfD party on immigration, insisted there was “no longer any reason” for Syrians who fled the war to seek asylum in Germany.
“For those who refuse to return to their country, we can of course expel them,” he said.
- ‘Dramatic situation’ -
In December, Germany carried out its first deportation of a Syrian since the civil war erupted in 2011, flying a man convicted of crimes to Damascus.
But rights groups have criticized such efforts, citing continued instability in Syria and evidence of rights abuses.
Violence between the government and minority groups has repeatedly flared in multi-confessional Syria since Sharaa came to power, including recent clashes between the army and Kurdish forces.
Several NGOs, including those representing the Kurdish and Alawite Syrian communities in Germany, have urged Berlin to axe Sharaa’s planned visit, labelling it “totally unacceptable.”
“The situation in Syria is dramatic. Civilians are being persecuted solely on the basis of their ethnic or religious affiliation,” they said in a joint statement.
“It is incomprehensible to us and legally and morally unacceptable that the German government knowingly intends to receive a person suspected of being responsible for these acts at the chancellery.”
The Kurdish Community of Germany, among the signatories of that statement, also filed a complaint with German prosecutors in November, accusing Sharaa of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
There have also been voices urging caution within government.
On a trip to Damascus in October, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that the potential for Syrians to return was “very limited” since the war had destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure.
But his comments triggered a backlash from his own conservative Christian Democratic Union party.
