Deir Ezzor needs more from the government

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 weight, reflecting an awareness of what the city has endured and sacrificed during the long years of war. The problem, however, lies in the yawning gap between this public acknowledgement and the lived reality on the ground – a reality that suggests this “debt” has yet to see even its first instalment repaid.

The irony is difficult to ignore. Beyond its oil wealth, Deir Ezzor possesses one of Syria’s largest reserves of fresh water: the Euphrates and its tributaries, alongside rivers such as the Khabur, extensive groundwater, springs and wells. It is among the country’s most fertile agricultural regions, home to significant livestock resources, and rich in other natural assets. In purely economic terms, this is a province endowed with everything required for revival and sustainable development.

More important still is its human capital. Deir Ezzor is not merely a land of resources, but a land of people: creative, resilient and industrious. They have been shaped by a deep civilisational legacy forged through successive great cultures: Babylonian, Assyrian and Sumerian; Canaanite, Phoenician, Roman and Palmyrene; culminating in a rich Arab-Islamic heritage that remains visible in local culture, values and social life. This layered history makes Deir Ezzor far more than a neglected province; it is a reservoir of human and cultural potential that has never been properly invested in.

Against this backdrop, the contrast between what the city possesses and what it endures today is stark. The crisis is not confined to economic hardship, severe though it is. It extends into a litany of accumulated social, political, security, service and cultural failures that have turned daily life for many residents into a struggle for survival.

Deir Ezzor is among the provinces most devastated by the conflict. Widely cited UN estimates suggest that destruction in some areas exceeds 40 per cent of housing and public infrastructure. Thousands of families still live in partially destroyed homes or precarious shelter, in the absence of any comprehensive reconstruction plan. At the same time, unemployment rates are among the highest in the country – estimated at between 35 and 45 per cent – with young people bearing the brunt of the crisis.

These challenges are compounded by an unresolved political and security context. More than fourteen years of upheaval, combined with continuing uncertainty over the province’s future given the presence of the Syrian Democratic Forces in parts of it, have obstructed the full restoration of state authority. Add to this the collapse of basic services and the scale of physical destruction, and it becomes clear that Deir Ezzor’s predicament demands sustained, strategic intervention, not cosmetic fixes or endlessly deferred promises.

Deir Ezzor remains one of the areas most vulnerable to a potential resurgence of Islamic State activity should the group regain organisational capacity in Syria. Even when this threat is not immediately visible, it lingers as a source of anxiety that undermines stability. All too often the IS threat is invoked as a justification for postponing development.

Taken together, these factors offer little reassurance to the people of Deir Ezzor. Without a fundamental shift in approach that treats the province’s crisis as a national priority rather than a marginal file buried in government drawers, there can be no credible prospect of reconstruction or prosperity. 

If the claim that Deir Ezzor is “a debt on the nation’s neck” is sincere, its only acceptable translation lies in concrete policy: genuine reconstruction, meaningful inclusion of local communities in decision-making, fair distribution of resources, and serious investment in people.

Continued marginalisation of Deir Ezzor threatens not only the province’s stability, but the integrity of the state itself. A state that fails to honour its moral and material obligations to its peripheries invites alienation and loss of trust. When citizens feel their city lies outside the national consciousness, belonging becomes fragile, and political and social vacuums emerge – ready to be filled by forces that serve no shared future.