"The City Terrorism Rating for Damascus is 90.0, rating equal second with Dubai & Abu Dhabi..."

PR-Inside, here

"Engagement with Syria has emerged as a high priority for US President Obama’s administration, as evidenced by the flurry of diplomatic activity since the new president took office in January. We expect these efforts to bear some fruit, not least because of the poor state of the Syrian economy. The prospect of improved trade ties and the likelihood of increased inward investment will act as a major incentive......... 

The path to peace will not be easy for Syria, as illustrated in its spiky relationship with Israel. Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel´s prime minister, had declared himself hostile to the return of the Golan Heights to Syria – one of Damascus´s key demands of the regional peace process .... There are also still plenty of questions hanging over Syria´s commitment to the US vision of peace: its support of Iran, Hamas and Hizbullah is popular at home, and there is some suggestion that Syria has concealed the extent of its nuclear research facilities. Washington has also called on Syria to take action against al-Qaeda fighters entering Iraq from its territory. The Syrian economy is under attack on several fronts in 2009, and we are forecasting a slump in real GDP growth to just 1.4%, down from an estimated 4.1% in 2007. Conditions will remain tough in 2010, when we see growth rising only slightly to 1.8%, before recovering further to 2.6% in 2011. A poor growth outlook, twin deficits on the fiscal and current accounts and a lack of inward investment are likely to exert downside pressure on the currency during our forecast period. 

This quarter, we have introduced a significant new aspect to BMI´s Defence Reports, which is the City Terrorism Rating (CTR). This assesses the risk of a terrorist attack. The CTR takes into account the overall BMI Terrorism Rating for the country in question. It also incorporates the ´prevalence´ of terrorism, which recognises the frequency of attacks, and whether the city is a target for terrorists. The CTR also recognises the ´threat´ of terrorism in terms of the likely numbers of victims and the ability of groups to launch sustained campaigns. In Syria we assess the CTR for Damascus at 90.0, rating equal second with Dubai and Abu Dhabi behind Tripoli among the Middle East Region’s 23 rated cities."