Companies once tied to Assad kept winning UN contracts under Syria’s new rulers
The United Nations paid roughly $10 million last year to companies formerly linked to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, according to an ICIJ analysis of recently released U.N. data. The payments came after Assad’s ouster from power in December 2024.
The procurement data, released by the U.N. in July, reveals at least 11 companies that reportedly had been closely linked to the Assad regime, and which continued to receive U.N. contracts after its fall.
One of those companies is Shorouk, a Syrian security firm that received at least $11 million in U.N. contracts during Assad’s rule. In December 2025, ICIJ revealed that Shorouk was secretly owned by a branch of Assad’s intelligence services. As a result, aid money flowed directly to a government agency sanctioned for the brutal torture and murder of Syrian civilians.
Shorouk won more than $1.6 million in U.N. contracts in 2025, only slightly less than the year prior.
Another security firm, ProGuard, received $2.2 million in U.N. contracts in 2025, making it the United Nations’ largest security contractor in Syria. Under Assad, ProGuard was reportedly owned by a businessman and former parliamentarian who was sanctioned by the European Union and United Kingdom for supporting the Syrian regime.
The Syrian government’s strategy of negotiating opaque deals with Assad-linked business elites likely explains the continued existence of many U.N. contractors with links to the former regime. Syrian officials have reached financial settlements with several of the country’s oligarchs and reportedly are negotiating with others. As part of these deals, the businessmen handed over a large percentage of their assets in return for being allowed to return to work in Syria.
This policy has been undertaken in a secretive and haphazard manner that risks undermining transitional justice efforts, experts told ICIJ.
https://www.icij.org/investigations/damascus-dossier/assad-intelligence-security-united-nations-aid/
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https://www.icij.org/investigations/damascus-dossier/about-damascus-dossier-syria-investigation/
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