Syria Extends Deadline for Contentious Property Law that Worried Lebanon

Syria has amended a controversial property law criticized by several Lebanese officials as “hindering the return of 1.5 million Syrian refugees who have sought refuge in Lebanon.”

Syria amended the law to allow people a year instead of a month to prove ownership of land seized for development, the foreign minister said Saturday.

The law, known as Decree 10, allows Syria's government to seize private property for zoned developments and compensate proven owners with shares in the new projects.

Critics, including rights groups and neighbouring Lebanon, have warned the law could prevent millions of Syrians displaced by the seven-year war from ever returning home.

Owners inevitably lose their property under the decree, but after an amendment now have up to a year -- instead of 30 days -- to claim shares after a new zone is announced if they prove ownership.

"The time period has been amended and become a year," Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said at a press conference in the Syrian capital.

Muallem said the nationwide law was "necessary" after the regime regained control of the former rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus in April, through a military assault and evacuation deals that displaced tens of thousands from their homes.

"Property regulation was necessary to restore the rights of the owners," he said, accusing rebels of "burning real estate records" and "manipulating" property deeds when they held the region.

But critics have raised concerns about the repercussions of such a law, especially for those affiliated to anti-government groups who will likely not dare to make a claim.

Human Rights Watch has said the law amounts to "forced eviction".

Last week, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said the law “concerns Lebanon because it tells thousands of Syrian families to stay in Lebanon,” should their homes be confiscated by the Syrian government.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil also warned that Decree 10 could hinder the return of an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees who have sought refuge in his country.

But Muallem on Saturday dismissed such charges as unfounded.

"We are keen for displaced Syrians to return to their hometowns and we will provide all necessary facilitations to those who wish to return," he said, adding he would send a reply to Bassil on Sunday.

Syria's war erupted in March 2011 and has since forced more than five million people to flee outside the country and has displaced over six million internally.