Syria’s transitional government has estimated that $40bn will be required to address overall damage caused to the war-ravaged country’s power infrastructure, Omar Shaqrouq, the electricity minister, told VOA Turkish, citing initial assessments.

“The electricity infrastructure as a whole from production to transmission points, high voltage lines and distribution networks is ruined,” he said.

“The amount produced right now is really low. The amount is 1,500 megawatts,” he added.

Current production can only provide electricity to citizens for two hours a day and sometimes it cannot even provide power for that length of time due to collapses in the electricity grid, according to Shaqrouq, who sees Syria as “a developing country with a collapsed industrial sector”.

The government is presently targeting a capacity expansion to make possible the provision of electricity for eight hours per day.

“Nothing tangible yet”

As regards where the $40bn will come from, Shaqrouq said: “There have been promises and desire but nothing tangible yet.”

As things stand, even neighbourhoods in the centre of the capital Damascus only receive electricity for two to four hours per day on average.

Everyone, including the ministry of electricity, uses power generators. Finding fuel for the generators is also a problem, particularly due to booming prices.

“We have electricity for one hour a day. We can not cook. We take a bath once every 10 days. We cannot store food in the refrigerator,” a local man, who uses a wood stove for heating, told VOA.

"$600-800bn price tag"

Istanbul Blog writes: Electricity provision is not the only infrastructure casualty in the country. The total bill for post-war reconstruction could run to $600-800bn, according to some figures in circulation.

Western media, meanwhile, keep referring to “rebels” and the “opposition” when it comes to the new government in Syria.

Donald Trump, as it happens, is the only person that has informed the Western audience of the truth, namely that it is Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has taken over Syria after overthrowing the Assad regime.

Turkey’s president, some may declare, will rebuild the country just as he has rebuilt the Turkish provinces that were hit by the catastrophic earthquakes in February 2023.

On close inspection, however, the observer sees that the quake-levelled provinces, still burdened by temporary “container” encampments, are in no way rebuilt and the plans for the rebuilding of Syria may turn out to be more pure fantasy.

The reality is that Turkey has dived deeper into difficulties. It has earned itself even bigger, insoluble problems.

Cold truths

Take on board some more cold truths. The US over the decades has run away from Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. Pakistan served a role in the US’ Afghanistan adventurism similar to Turkey’s role in Syria.

For decades, the exploding of a bomb in a Pakistani city has been an ordinary event. The US assassinated Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. It did not inform the Pakistani authorities of the operation since the jihadists have their men within the Pakistani state.

And you can forgive those who stifle a laugh when they observe that the Taliban administration in Afghanistan is currently attacking Pakistan.

“No longer a group of psycho-jihadists”

During the Taliban’s recapturing of Kabul in 2021, Western media massively reported that the Taliban had changed and were no longer a group of psycho-jihadists.

Media reports talked of oil and gas pipelines being laid in the country. They pointed to great business opportunities for China. And so on.

Currently, the same types of stories are being circulated about Syria. When the media frenzy has died out, Turkey will be left alone with its new plot of land.

Recognition for the Kurdish government in northern Syria

After Trump takes office on January 20, Erdogan may find himself in a position that makes it necessary to recognise the de facto Kurdish regional government in northern Syria just as he recognised the Kurdish regional government (KRG) in Iraq.

Erdogan officials have, meanwhile, been holding talks with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, who remains imprisoned on a Turkish island.

It is not clear whether some serious matters are under discussion or whether some meaningful results can be achieved. The discussions are definitely related to the developments in Syria.

Next stop Yemen?

Since Hamas launched its kamikaze cross-border strike from Gaza against Israel on October 7, 2023, Iran has lost its influence in the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Syria.

In December, bne IntelliNews noted: “The next stop for Israel, prior to Tehran, looks like Iran’s proxies in Iraq.”

It proved not to be the case. Israel and the US have indeed been exchanging some more rockets, but with Yemen. So, it seems that the next stop is in fact Yemen. Iraq may follow, en route to Tehran.

Do not let press reports fool you. All of the US proxies, including Turkey, are on the same path.