In first, Syria approves restoration of Jewish property, synagogues

The new Jewish Heritage in Syria Foundation will work to return Jewish property to the community with the aim of rejuvenating Jewish life in the country as the new administration in Damascus looks to boost its outreach to minority groups.

What happened: Syria’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor announced on Wednesday that it had granted the foundation a license to operate in the country. The announcement was made during a meeting between Social Affairs and Labor Minister Hind Kabawat and Henry Hamra, who will head the foundation.

Hamra, the son of a Syrian rabbi who immigrated to the United States more than 30 years ago, ran unsuccessfully in Syria’s parliamentary elections in October and has been working to revitalize Jewish life in his birth country. 

In a video posted by the ministry, Hamra said that Syrian Jews abroad “want to return to their homeland and see their synagogues.”

Hamra said the license is the first ever in Syria permitting a Jewish organization to restore communal property. The foundation’s first goal will be to restore the Jobar synagogue in Damascus, which was established in 720 BCE. It will also work to return other Jewish properties to the community, including other synagogues and homes in the capital city, according to Hamra. 

“The government wants to help,” he said in the video. “If you want to sell your house, rent your house, invest in Syria. It’s all open.” 

The foundation was established in January 2025, per its website. 

Hamra told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday that the organization will create a registry of Jewish properties confiscated under the regimes of deposed President Bashar al-Assad (2000-2024) and his father, Hafez al-Assad (1971-2000). 

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that a delegation of Jews visited a synagogue and Jewish school in Aleppo on Wednesday. Both institutions closed decades ago, according to the war monitor. 

The observatory did not offer many details about the delegation, but reported that two unnamed Israeli rabbis were among those who visited the school and the synagogue. 

After decades in exile, Syria's Jews visit Damascus synagogues.

For the first time in three decades, Rabbi Joseph Hamra and his son Henry read from a Torah scroll in a synagogue in the heart of Syria's capital, Damascus. pic.twitter.com/aBY3U7BJUk

— Fared Al Mahlool | فريد المحلول (@FARED_ALHOR) February 20, 2025

Why it matters: The history of the Jewish community in Syria dates back to biblical times. Jews remained in the country through the Arab conquest in the 7th century and into the Ottoman era. Following the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, the community welcomed a number of Sephardic Jews into its ranks. 

The Jewish community numbered around 30,000 in the late 1940s, with Jews living in Damascus, Aleppo and Qamishli in the northeast. The Jewish population began to decline amid persecution during the Arab-Israeli conflict, including after the 1947 pogrom in Aleppo, in which around 75 Jews were killed. The community had almost entirely fled by the 1990s and their property was taken over by other Syrians. 

By the time of Assad’s fall in December 2024, only six Jews remained in Syria, according to local reports. 

The new government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham during the civil war, has conducted overtures toward the American Jewish community. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani met a delegation of Syrian Jews in New York City in April. The purpose of the meeting was to establish communication and discuss the role the Jewish community could play in Syria’s reconstruction, the official news outlet, SANA, reported at the time. 

In February, Hamra and a number of other Syrian-American Jews visited Damascus and prayed in the city’s Faranj synagogue. 

In an interview with the US news outlet the Jewish Journal in February, Sharaa said the government is "inviting all voices to the table" to have a say in the political transition. 

Sharaa has sought to portray Syria as safe for minorities in response to concerns over the former members of HTS and other jihadist groups serving in the new government. Syria has experienced numerous bouts of sectarian conflict since Assad’s fall, including the massacre of 1,500 Alawites in March by Bedouin tribes and government-affiliated forces. 

Know more: Syria’s outreach to the Jewish community comes as relations with Israel deteriorate. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said at a conference on Wednesday that gaps between Israel and Syria on a security deal being pushed by the Trump administration have “widened,” citing new demands by Damascus. 

Israel has carried out numerous military actions in Syria since Assad’s fall and occupies a number of territories inside Syria near the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. It describes its actions as an effort to fight extremist groups and protect the Druze minority. Syria has repeatedly condemned Israel’s activity as a violation of its sovereignty and says it undermines postwar reunification efforts. 

US-backed talks between Israel and Syria aimed at reaching a security agreement began in the spring. After Trump took aim at Israel in a post on Truth Social last week for its military actions in Syria, Sharaa told the Doha Forum that “any agreement must ensure Syria’s interests are fully protected.”