Iranian-owned assets in Syria have reached $3 billion and may grow to $10 billion in the next five years, Bassel Oudat reports from Damascus Iran is buying into Syria as if there is no tomorrow, prompting critics to claim that Tehran has ulterior political motives. The Iranians are buying into industrial cities, free zones, oil, energy, steel and agriculture. And the incentives lavished upon them by the Syrian authorities are said to be unprecedented. How much of this is politics and how much is economics? In 2008, Iranian investment in Syria ranked third after Saudi Arabia and Turkey, reaching a total of $3 billion. Experts expect Iran to become the main investor in Syria by 2009. The Iranians began their acquisitions in Syria with a mineral oil factory they bought seven years ago. Now they own or control nearly 110 big or medium-sized companies. Iranian investment is diversified. Iranian businessmen are buying into design companies, programming firms, iron factories, engine oil recycling projects, lamp and generator companies, oil refineries, grain silos, car and bus factories and power plants. In 2008, Iran inaugurated a $195 million cement factory, 10 grain silos worth $218 million, an automobile factory worth $40 million, and other small and medium-scale firms worth a total of $400 million. Iran has also delivered 1,200 buses, part of a deal involving a total of 5,000 buses. The Iranians have built a $30 million drainage tunnel, part of an agricultural project valued at $115 million. Iranian contractors are to deliver railway carriages and engines worth a total of $10 million. An Iranian-Syrian bank with a capital of $100 million is being launched. Iran and Syria have an initial agreement to build an industrial zone with a capital of $2 billion. There is also a Syrian-Iranian- Venezuelan project to create an oil refinery worth $1.5 billion to process 140,000 barrels a day of Iranian and Iraqi oil. The project was announced during a visit by Hugo Chavez to Damascus in August 2006. Iran is also cooperating with Syria and Turkey in a scheme to transport gas from Iran to Syria across Turkish territory. Iran is fully financing a power plant worth $350 million. It is also involved in financing a glass factory worth $100 million, a bus assembly factory worth $100 million and a major dairy establishment. According to Syrian sources, Damascus is thinking of letting Iranian companies operate ATM machines in the country, print Syrian passports, and supervise a food rationing programme through credit cards, all of which are high-profile projects that venture beyond finance and into politics. Observers believe that the sanctions the US imposed on Syria in 2004 enticed Damascus to open up to Iranian investors. Syrian and Iranian officials announced plans to expand Iranian direct investment in Syria to $10 billion over the next five years. The two countries are getting close in other non-economic projects. Over 600,000 Iranians visit religious sites in Syria every year. Iran is building hotels and housing complexes near Shia religious sites in Syria. Syria and Iran plan to create an Iranian university in Lattakia specialised in biology. The university is to bear the name of Al-Farabi, a well-known 10th century Arab scholar and scientist. Tehran is expected to offer fellowships to 20 per cent of the students in that university. In 2004, the US imposed economic sanctions on Syria, accusing it of backing Palestinian groups involved in terror, stirring trouble in Iraq and Lebanon, and colluding with Iran. The sanctions left Syria with no access to US exports and capital. Iran, which knew all about US sanctions, saw a chance to move in. Iranian and Syrian official now exchange frequent visits. The two countries have signed numerous industrial and trade agreements. With Iranian direct investment in Syria running to $1 billion a year, Syrian officials say that they wouldn't hesitate to break any embargo against Tehran. Up to 5,000 Iranian experts are believed to be working in various technical and economic jobs in Syria. Arab countries and Syrian opposition groups accuse Iran of proselytising in Syria and around the region. Iran, critics say, is promoting a doctrinal, cultural, and social agenda that contradicts the "basic tenets of Islam". But Damascus dismisses the charges, saying that the Iranians are solely interested in cooperation. Iran has been edging closer to Syria since the Islamic revolution of 1979. During the Iraq-Iran war, economic cooperation between the two countries went on in earnest. Both Damascus and Tehran support Hizbullah and Hamas and voice similar views on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Critics claim that Iran is using Syria and Lebanon as its first line of defence. Damascus doesn't seem to worry about that. Syrian officials believe that cooperation with Tehran is a good way to end the isolation that the Americans are trying to impose on both nations. If anything, the two countries are likely to upgrade their political, economic, and perhaps military cooperation in the future.
