In his tattered tent on the Syrian–Turkish border, Ghassan Abdul Karim browses Facebook on his mobile device.
He is drawn to several pictures of a Pistachio Festival in hometown, Morek, in the rural Hama Governorate of Syria. It has been five years since Karim and his family were forcibly displaced from their pistachio orchard.
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“One of the most painful experiences a person can go through is seeing their land and livelihood handed over to others who enjoy them, under the shadow of oppressive forces that supported the perpetrators and gave them laws to take our land,” Karim says, staring intently at the images of the festival and its participants. “They brandished all their weapons to drive us out, kill us, steal our fields and benefit from their yields.”
He focuses on a “new thief,” represented by Syrian First Lady Asma al-Assad and her association.
On Oct. 3, 2024, the Syrian government organized a festival in Morek, attended by Hama Governor Subhi Aboud, the provincial police chief, the party branch secretary Ashraf Bashouri, the Morek Pistachio Cooperative, the Farmers’ Union, the Syrian Trust for Development, which is led by Asma al-Assad, along with the Directorate of Agriculture.
While the government called it the Pistachio Festival, 70% of Morek’s land is still subject to public auctions, falling into the hands of Ba’ath Party elites, regime forces and their militias.
Guise of a festival
Activist Ali Abu al-Farouq says the Assad regime, through its media apparatus, gave significant attention to the Pistachio Festival in Morek, describing its goals as “raising awareness about pistachios, their varieties, and their importance to the Syrian economy, and promoting farmers’ products.”
Yet the real objective was to involve the Syrian Trust for Development in the systematic looting and confiscation conducted annually by the security committee, represented by the Hama governor, the provincial police chief, and the party branch secretary.
The security committee reports directly to Syrian President Bashar Assad as the commander-in-chief of the army and armed forces. Thus, Bashar al-Assad, through the security committee, and Asma al-Assad, through the Syrian Trust for Development, are partners in the theft and plundering of pistachios, which belong to Syrians forcibly displaced from their lands.
Asma al-Assad has built an extensive patronage network, relying on charitable and NGOs under her control.
The Syrian Trust for Development played a prominent role in the Pistachio Festival in Morek, with photos and videos becoming popular on regime-controlled social media and websites. Additionally, state television aired reports praising the role of the Trust in organizing the festival and raising awareness about pistachios in cooperation with official entities.
The idea of the festival in Morek, which is home to only a few residents while the majority are displaced, came from the Syrian Trust for Development. The Trust decided to take part in the looting and theft of the pistachio crop, al-Farouq says.
Charitable front or economic control?
The Syrian Trust for Development is one of the tools Asma al-Assad used to dominate Syria’s economy, according to an investigation by the London-based Financial Times.The investigation revealed a secret council led by Asma Assad from within the presidential palace, tasked with controlling Syria’s economy to enrich the Assad family and consolidate its power, while also securing funding for the regime’s operations.
According to testimony from 18 individuals familiar with the regime’s inner workings, including businessmen, company managers, employees in aid organizations, and former regime officials, Asma al-Assad has spent many years building an extensive patronage network, relying on charitable and non-governmental organizations under her control, such as the Syrian Trust for Development. She has personally controlled the flow of international aid funds into Syria.
Moreover, Asma al-Assad worked to remove all businessmen and wealthy individuals who did not show loyalty to her husband. Alongside her husband and his brother Maher, she dismantled Syria’s traditional merchant class and devised new ways to exploit the war economically, amassing personal wealth. Her name has since become synonymous with this new economic system.
During the Pistachio Festival in October, the Hama governor repeated the regime’s claims about returning pistachio lands to their owners and encouraging farmers to work their lands. But that lasted only six days. The governor then announced a public auction for leasing lands that belong to displaced farmers from towns under regime control in the province.
Auctioning stolen land
Ryan Ahmed, an activist from eastern Hama province, says the regime’s announcement of the auction is a way to “loot and plunder the trees belonging to farmers who were forcibly displaced from their towns just days after the Pistachio Festival. The claims made by regime officials during the festival about supporting the right of return for farmers are a clear demonstration of Assad’s lies and slander.”
The regime has tightened its grip on Syrian properties, dividing their fruits among factions involved in the war.
This policy continues to escalate as part of a systematic effort to seize Syrian property while benefiting from it on one hand and continuing forced displacement on the other.
Ahmed says that the latest census by the Syrian Response Coordinators team showed that the number of displaced people in camps exceeded 2 million, meaning very few have returned to areas under regime control while the vast majority remain outside their hometowns.
That is due to the regime’s refusal to engage in a political solution and implement relevant international resolutions, particularly Resolution 2254, in addition to shifting international dynamics and the lack of focus on the Syrian crisis.
The regime has used this opportunity to tighten its grip on Syrian properties, dividing their fruits among the various factions involved in the war, who used force and violence against unarmed Syrians, driving them from their homes and taking over their lands.
