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With no fund in the horizon for large-scale reconstruction in Syria due to the absence of any political deal, the Syrian government has been designing and implementing neoliberal reconstruction policies that are socially unjust, economically exclusive and politically driven.

The focus of this paper is on the latest urban policies that have been set regarding reconstruction since 2011, such as Decree 66/2012 and Law 10/2018. It also looks at the extent these legislations are negatively affecting Syrian citizens and cities. The paper explores the impact of the current reconstruction policies on the Syrian citizens starting from removing people from their home without adequately compensate them, dispossessing people of property rights, advancing the agenda of external ‘developers' and in many other ways showcasing the mentality of leveraging urban reconstruction as a powerful political tool in the conflict.

In 2002, an issue of Open House International had already addressed the subject of war and the city. Scholars with different backgrounds and experiences reported on a number of cities. They analysed and reflected on the situation before the armed hostilities, both in physical terms and in terms of the conflicts of ethnic and civilian character, and the role of external forces and actors; the war in its different manifestations: a never ending conflict, a succession of battles and precarious truces, bombing, the threat of bombing; and the prospects of reconstruction, with particular reference to the different effects for the various groups and interests.