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...

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 Gulf kingdom has been a major backer of the new Syrian government, which came to power after longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad was toppled 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.

The Saudi organisation's president Abdullah Al Rabeeah and Syrian minister for emergencies and disaster management Raed al-Saleh signed an agreement for the initiative, which includes plans to recycle at least 30,000 cubic metres of debris from destroyed homes and other buildings.

Saleh said the rubble hinders humanitarian efforts and reconstruction, and that unexploded "war remnants threaten the lives of civilians".