Deir Ezzor needs more from the government

Acknowledged in speeches but abandoned in practice, Deir Ezzor has become the ultimate test of whether Syria’s post-war promises mean anything at all.  Deir Ezzor is not a distant outpost on Syria’s map. Yet it remains conspicuously absent from the current government’s list of priorities. While political, economic and service-related attention is funnelled towards the centre – above all Damascus – this eastern city, despite its demographic weight and historical importance, is left stranded on the margins of the state, treated as little more than a geographical afterthought.On more than one occasion, President Ahmed al-Sharaa has acknowledged the scale of this neglect, going so far as to describe Deir Ezzor as “a debt on our necks”. The phrase carries clear moral and political …