Saudi launches Damascus area reconstruction project

DAMASCUS: Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday humanitarian projects for Syria including the removal of wartime rubble around Damascus, weeks after inking investment deals worth billions to help rebuild the country’s infrastructure.

The oil-rich Gulf kingdom has been a major backer of the new Syrian government, which came to power after an Islamist-led offensive toppled longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December.

At an event Sunday in Damascus, the Saudi state-run King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) announced an aid package that includes a project to clear more than 75,000 cubic metres of rubble from the capital and its surroundings.