The Syrian Ministry of Endowments (Awqaf) announced on Saturday, September 13, the cancellation of several lease contracts in the Arab al-Malik area of Jableh (in Latakia province, on Syria’s Mediterranean coast), held by relatives and associates of the former ruling elite, including Hafez Makhlouf and Zuhair al-Assad.
According to a letter from Deputy Minister of Endowments Samer Bairqdar to Minister Mohammed Abu al-Khair Shukri, a legal review of lease agreements in Jableh found that certain contracts could be annulled. The contracts involved a coastal strip of about 206 dunams (20 hectares), which lessees had been using “for purposes other than what they were leased for.”
Bairqdar said the land had been exploited as “illegal smuggling ports and for other activities,” according to a statement published by the Ministry of Endowments on its Telegram channel. He directed the Latakia Endowments Directorate to terminate the contracts and take immediate possession of the properties.
Coastal land for $4 a year
The tenants included influential families and regime associates paying symbolic annual rents: Ali Kanj & Partners ($331), Basel and Ali Fadel ($600), Hafez Makhlouf ($596), Zuhair al-Assad and Ali Ammar ($50), Fajr Maala Ibrahim ($8), heirs of Mohammed al-Assad ($30), Zuhair al-Assad ($15), and heirs of Salim Junaidi ($4.2).
A document from the Ministry of Endowments directing the cancellation of lease contracts for a coastal strip in Latakia held by figures of the former regime, September 13, 2025 (Syrian Ministry of Endowments)
Previous cancellations
In June, the Damascus Endowments Directorate annulled a lease held by the sons of Adnan al-Assad, a cousin of the late president, for a 745-square-meter commercial property in central Damascus. The shop, across from al-Rashid Hospital in Bab Musalla, had been leased for under $300 annually despite its prime location.
A decision by the Damascus Endowments Directorate to cancel a lease contract held by the sons of Adnan al-Assad, cousin of the former president, June 25, 2025 (Ministry of Endowments)
Endowment land under Asma al-Assad’s control
Bairqdar previously revealed that during the former regime, endowment revenues were systematically siphoned off through a vast corruption network involving Bashar al-Assad, his wife Asma, and his cousin Rami Makhlouf, according to an interview with Al Jazeera Net.
He said a waqf property near Damascus’ Umayyad Square was transferred to the Damascus Governorate by presidential decree, then handed to a company affiliated with Asma al-Assad. The land hosted a seasonal amusement park and was leased at $60,000 for six months, while later auctions after “Syria’s liberation” revealed its market value to be $320,000 for the same period.
Bairqdar also cited the Yalbugha Complex as a “blatant example” of politically manipulated contracts. In 2007, a Gulf company signed an investment contract worth $5.5 million annually, but the deal was cancelled and the minister dismissed after Rami Makhlouf sought to seize control of the property. The project was later reassigned to an investor close to Bashar al-Assad for just $340,000 annually, with the backing of then–Minister of Endowments Mohammed Abdul Sattar al-Sayyid.
According to Bairqdar, such cases show that political proximity to the ruling family, rather than market value, determined the price and beneficiaries of endowment properties.
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