World Bank estimates $216B needed to rebuild Syria after civil war

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Rebuilding Syria after over a decade of civil war is expected to cost about $216 billion, the World Bank said in an assessment published Tuesday. The cost is almost ten times Syria’s 2024 gross domestic product.

Syria’s civil war began in 2011 when mass protests against the government of then-President Bashar Assad were met with a brutal crackdown and spiraled into armed conflict. Assad was ousted in December in a lightning rebel offensive.

The conflict destroyed large swaths of the country and battered critical infrastructure, including its electrical grid.

The World Bank says the rebuilding may cost between $140 billion and $345 billion, but their “conservative best estimate” is $216 billion.

The World Bank estimates that rebuilding infrastructure will cost $82