Syria and the United Arab Emirates are advancing two housing and tourism projects in Damascus and Latakia under a framework agreement signed by Abu Dhabi-based developer Eagle Hills. The agreement was signed on Monday at an investment event in Damascus, attended by President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mohamed Alabbar. State news agency SANA said the two projects are set to move directly into implementation.
Projects in Damascus and Latakia
The developments are Tadamon Towers in Damascus and Eco Life in Latakia. Both are planned as integrated communities, bringing together homes, tourism facilities, services and public spaces. The framework covers urban and tourism projects in the capital and the coastal city.
The reported investment could reach up to $20 billion. That figure is a possible total, not a final cost: the report says the projects could involve investments worth that amount. It doesn’t provide separate budgets for Tadamon Towers or Eco Life, or say how much funding has been committed so far.
Alabbar, founder of Eagle Hills and Emaar Properties, is leading the development push. Eagle Hills signed the framework agreement, according to the report. It gives no details about the projects’ financing structure, which companies or public bodies will handle particular construction work, or when the projects might be completed.
What the agreement says—and leaves open
The agreement advances a private-sector investment project in Syria’s postwar recovery. Its stated scope includes housing, tourism facilities, services and public spaces. The report doesn’t say who will own or manage those facilities, how homes will be priced, or who can buy or use them.
There are no details about the land involved, whether the projects require land acquisition, or how they might affect existing residents. The report doesn’t mention demolitions, displacement, land confiscation or settlement expansion. Nor does it say whether residents were consulted or describe procedures for addressing community concerns. Those details aren’t specified in the account. The framework’s stated scope alone doesn’t answer them.
SANA’s account, as described in the report, says the two projects will move directly into implementation. But the report doesn’t define what implementation means at this stage, identify construction start dates, or say whether permits or other approvals remain outstanding. It also doesn’t explain how the Syrian and Emirati sides will divide responsibilities.
The investment event took place in Damascus, with President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mohamed Alabbar in attendance. The accompanying photograph showed a traffic roundabout in central Latakia on June 12, 2025, and credited Omar Albaw/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images. The photograph documents the image’s location and date. It provides no further details about the Eco Life project.
For now, the public account establishes the agreement’s signatories, the two named developments, their broad proposed uses and a possible investment ceiling. It offers no project-level budgets or construction schedule. The implementation details and effects on people living in Damascus and Latakia remain unspecified in the information provided.