For Syrian women, losing a home or land during years of conflict has often meant losing more than a place to live.
A recent report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights found that various factors have led to violations affecting Syrian women's private property rights since 2011.
The report, issued on 23 July and titled Property violations against women in Syria since 2011: Patterns of seizure and their impact on women in the context of conflict and the transitional phase, explained that the war in Syria was not a direct cause of these violations.
Instead, they resulted from a combination of previous government policies and factors including exceptional legislation, forced displacement and weak legal protections.
The network also highlighted social norms in Syria that have limited women's ability to prove ownership or reclaim property. Many properties were registered in the names of husbands, fathers or male relatives who were killed, detained, forcibly disappeared or displaced, leaving the women concerned unable to manage or claim these properties.
The fight to keep what is theirs
The Syrian Network for Human Rights based its report on testimonies from 35 women from several Syrian provinces, collected between January 2025 and March 2026.
It classified violations of women's private property rights into three categories: direct property violations, arbitrary legal or administrative measures, and discriminatory social and economic factors.
The issue of property rights is among the key challenges facing Syria during the transitional phase.
The network identified 11 main patterns behind Syrian women's loss of property ownership. These include forced displacement and the loss of effective control over homes and land; destruction of property as a result of widespread or deliberate bombardment; converting civilian property into military sites or uses; precautionary and executive seizure and arbitrary confiscation; property seizure due to the detention of a family member or accusations of political opposition; and expropriation through urban planning laws and exceptional legislation.
This particularly includes Law No. 10 of 2018; loss of ownership documents that prevent proof of rights; forgery and tampering with property records; difficulties in accessing justice and the absence of effective remedies; deprivation of inheritance rights due to conflict or family disputes; and financial extortion in exchange for retaining property or allowing its use.
For Fadel Abdul Ghany, executive director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, these violations cannot be explained by the conflict alone.
"Women's property rights in Syria were not violated solely because of the conflict, but also because of an integrated system of repressive legislation, discriminatory practices and social norms that accumulated over decades," he told The New Arab.
He added: "The former Assad regime exploited them to turn property ownership into a tool for collective punishment and political subjugation."
However, Fadel explained that "the fall of the regime did not automatically end violations of women's property rights in Syria."
He said: "If the authorities (currently) do not take the initiative to establish effective mechanisms for returning property, providing compensation and reforming the legislative framework, thousands of women will remain deprived of their rights even after the end of the conflict."
He stressed that "it is impossible to build a new Syria on a fair foundation without restoring seized property rights and enabling women to exercise their legal and economic rights on an equal footing (with men)."
The impact of these violations is evident in the testimonies on which the Syrian Network for Human Rights based its report.
One of those women is Mona Suleiman, 52, from Quneitra province in southern Syria. She said she had been denied access to her agricultural land for years after it was used for military purposes, first by forces of the former regime and later due to the presence of Israeli occupation forces in the area.
The loss of access to the land deprived her of her main source of income.
In central Syria, Alia al-Faouri's testimony from the Baba Amr neighbourhood in Homs also highlights the impact of property destruction.
Her home was reduced to rubble as a result of shelling after she was displaced from the neighbourhood in 2012.
"Losing the house was not only the loss of shelter, but I also lost everything I owned: furniture, gold and ownership documents," she said. "I feel that I have lost the stability I built throughout my life."
A path towards property justice
Property disputes do not stem only from displacement, destruction, or seizure. Family disputes also stand out as one of the violations of women's property rights in Syria.
This pattern is reflected in attempts to deprive women of inheritance or force them to give it up.
As an example, 50-year-old Fatima M., from Homs, told The New Arab that she has been trying for several months to reach an agreement with her siblings to resolve the issue of her inheritance from her father, but they have been delaying the process.
She noted that "large costs will result from taking the matter to court and appointing a lawyer, and I will not be able to afford them."
Fatima believes that "a specialised judicial department in this field could benefit us so that we do not enter the maze of lawyers and high costs, or lawyers could be appointed at the government's expense to resolve this type of case."
For women facing these problems, resolving property disputes remains closely linked to access to justice and the ability to prove ownership.
In its latest report, the Syrian Network for Human Rights presented a series of recommendations regarding women's property rights in Syria.
These included establishing an independent body to return properties and settle property disputes, reforming legislation that has been used to expropriate property and to freeze the disposal of disputed real estate, and introducing flexible mechanisms to prove ownership, among other recommendations aimed at limiting these violations.
The network called on the United Nations and donor organisations to support reform of Syria's property system, link reconstruction funding to guarantees that property rights are respected, and prevent the financing of projects built on illegally confiscated properties.
It also called for support for the rehabilitation of land registries and strengthening legal assistance programmes for Syrian women, while empowering them economically in a way that ensures the restoration of their rights and creates conditions for the safe and sustainable return of displaced people.
Abdullah Al-Bashir is a Syrian journalist and the correspondent for Al-Araby Al-Jadeed in Syria