Following the visit of UAE's Minister of Foreign Affairs to Damascus in late 2021, it was announced that the UAE will construct a 300-megawatt solar power plant near Damascus.

In June 2024, PM Hussein Arnoussaid a company called Infinity Skylight had been tasked with rehabilitating Syria's largest power plant and that a memorandum of understanding had been signed with it for the establishment of a 300-megawatt solar power plant near Damascus.

A month earlier, he and the Minister of Electricity visited the power plant in Der Ali, praising their private sector partner, Infinity Skylight, for refurbishing the plant.

The power plant near Damascus seems to have a section of land prepared a few years ago for installing solar panels.

So, Infinity Skylight, which now operates the power plant in Der Ali, will soon build another plant with Emirati funding.

33°25'52.27"N 36°41'29.66"E

Who owns Infinity Skylight?

Quite simply, Bashar al-Assad.

Will the project ever materialize? Or will Assad pocket the sum? Let's see.

More on Assad's fronts will be discussed in my forthcoming publication with Steven Heydemann.