![](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/11\/soryehalsharqalwsat28aut201.jpg\" "\\"soryehalsharqalwsat28aut201\\"")
AFP, Dubai- The Syrian opposition will need $60 billion in Marshall Plan-style aid to prevent the country\u2019s collapse within six months of a fall of the regime, prominent leader George Sabra told reporters on Wednesday.
He urged a \u201cPartnership to Invest in Future Syria\u201d meeting held in Dubai to immediately launch a Marshall Plan for the Arab country, along the lines of the huge post-World War II recovery program for Europe.<\/p>\n
Over the \u201cfirst six months we need 60 billion dollars\u201d as immediate funding for reconstruction, Sabra told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.
Sabra said the money must come in the form of aid from \u201cour Arab brothers and the international community on whom we count to fulfill their responsibilities towards the humanitarian crisis our country is facing.\u201d
Funding is needed to \u201cresolve the most sensitive and outstanding issues,\u201d starting with \u201csecuring housing for people after 2.5 million homes have been destroyed\u201d in the conflict, said Sabra, head of the Syrian National Council.
\u201cWhat can be described as an economic \u2019Marshall Plan for Syria\u2019 cannot be delayed until the current regime fully collapses. It must be initiated immediately,\u201d he told the meeting.
He called for the \u201cArab and international business community\u2019s support\u201d of \u201cfully or almost completely\u201d liberated zones in Syria\u2019s northern cities of Aleppo, Idlib, and Tal Abyad.
\u201cThe regime is in the stage of decline and will not last long,\u201d he told AFP.
Farah Atassi, a prominent opposition activist, said: \u201cThere is a need for cash in Syrian banks and the central bank for this phase from the first day after the fall of the Syrian regime up to six months.\u201d
This is \u201cto ensure that vital installations such as water, electricity and health sectors continue to offer Syrian citizens their services,\u201d said Atassi, coordinator of an economic taskforce.
\u201cThis is a phase in which the Syrian state must not collapse,\u201d Atassi said. \u201cThis would lead to security and economic problems.\u201d
Sabra also called for the setting up of an \u201cimmediate coordination bureau either inside Syria or in any city near the Turkish-Syrian border\u201d to secure the flow of aid and offer rebels \u201cadministrative and technical expertise.\u201d
The meeting was the second of its kind, co-chaired by the United Arab Emirates and Germany, in the Gulf country this year.
Over 500 regional and international delegates were meeting in a series of sessions to study strategies for private-sector engagement in helping to rebuild the war-torn country.
German representative Volkmar Wenzel said \u201cwe must start with relief and go through many phases before reaching to foreign investment\u201d in Syria, where an anti-regime revolt since March 2011 has cost tens of thousands of lives.
Sabra\u2019s SNC is a main component of the National Coalition formed in Doha on November 11 that has so far gained recognition from Britain, France, Italy, Turkey, the EU and six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.
\u201cWe hope the American stance moves forward towards supporting the Syrian revolt and recognizing the National Coalition as France and Britain did,\u201d said Sabra.
The coalition has been openly rejected by some Islamist groups in the northern city and province of Aleppo, a frontline in the war between rebels and the regime, including Al-Nusra Front, who dubbed it a \u201cconspiratorial project.\u201d
But Sabra dismissed these groups as \u201cminorities … representing their own opinions and views. And this is their right.\u201d
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AFP, Dubai- The Syrian opposition will need $60 billion in Marshall Plan-style aid to prevent the country’s collapse within six months of a fall of the regime, prominent leader George […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-12439","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-iran-a-world","7":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n