6 January 2026

INTERVIEW: Syria wants European know-how, not just aid, for post-war recovery

Ahead of a visit this week by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Syria, where Europe’s role in reconstruction will be on the table, Syria’s new emergency minister Raed al-Saleh says the country’s post-war recovery will depend as much on institutional capacity as on funding.

For more than a decade, al-Saleh served as director of the Syrian Civil Defence NGO, commonly known as the White Helmets.

The organisation saved countless lives in war-torn Syria and earned international praise for its rescue work, even as it was relentlessly vilified by the brutal regime of former president Bashar al-Assad and his Russian backers. Following the sudden collapse of the Assad regime a year ago, al-Saleh was appointed Syria’s minister of emergency and disaster management.

Speaking to Euractiv, al-Saleh described his move from civil society to government as less a rupture than a continuation.

“The transition from leading a civil society organisation such as the White Helmets to government work is a continuation of the same path,” he said, arguing that his background gave him flexibility and a deeper understanding of local communities and their needs.

Syria, he added, remains devastated after years of conflict.

“Syria suffers from widespread destruction left behind by long years of war,” al-Saleh said, accusing the Assad regime of destroying infrastructure and basic resources across much of the country.

“This reality has left Syria with limited resources, immense humanitarian needs, and a severe shortage of the capabilities required for reconstruction and disaster response,” he said.

To confront those challenges, al-Saleh has leaned heavily on former colleagues from the White Helmets, many of whom have followed him into the new ministry.

“As a newly established ministry, we face the challenge of building an administrative structure and effective governance from scratch,” he said. That includes developing human resources, establishing clear operational mechanisms, and strengthening coordination with other ministries and governmental bodies to ensure a unified national response.

Having previously operated only in opposition-held areas, al-Saleh and his team are now responsible for disaster preparedness and emergency response across the entire country.

“There is a pressing need to develop sustainable programmes for risk reduction and disaster management, and to establish a comprehensive national response system,” he said, “one that strengthens the resilience of local communities and builds their capacity for preparedness and response to future crises.”

As part of that effort, al-Saleh recently travelled to Ukraine with Syria’s agriculture minister, Amjad Badr, to exchange expertise on operating under wartime conditions.

“I experienced what Ukrainians live through every day,” al-Saleh said, recalling hours spent in shelters amid repeated air-raid threats. “I still carry similar experiences from the days of the war in Syria.”

Beyond shelling, Ukraine also faces widespread contamination from mines and unexploded ordnance, rendering large areas of agricultural land unusable – a problem al-Saleh said closely mirrors Syria’s own challenges.

“We found great openness and a desire for cooperation from Ukrainian official bodies in the area of mine clearance and the removal of war remnants,” he said. “There will be tangible steps in the near future that will allow Syria to benefit from Ukrainian expertise and the technology used to survey and clear mines.”

Al-Saleh is also planning visits to several European countries as Syria seeks to build long-term disaster-response capacity. He said he is particularly interested in the experience of the European Civil Protection Agency, as well as volunteer-management systems in Germany and elsewhere.

He also pointed to Italy’s approach to combating forest fires and Greece’s expertise in maritime search-and-rescue operations as models worth studying as Syria begins the long process of reconstruction.

(cm, mk)