Serbia passes a special bill enabling Trump's son-in-law to build luxury compound despite opposition

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian lawmakers on Friday passed a special law clearing the way for a controversial real estate project that would be financed by an investment company linked to Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner despite widespread public opposition and legal hurdles.

The project seeks to redevelop a landmark military complex in central Belgrade that was partially destroyed in a NATO bombing campaign in 1999, turning it into a luxury compound with a high-rise hotel, offices and shops.

The special bill was approved with a 130-40 vote in the 250-member parliament after days of heated parliamentary debate and street protests by opponents.

Serbia’s government last year stripped the complex of its protected status and signed a 99-year-lease agreement with Kushner-related Affinity Global Development, based in the U.S. But the project stalled after Serbia’s organized crime prosecutors launched an investigation into whether documents used to remove that status were forged.

While the pro-Trump populist government of President Aleksandar Vucic says the project would boost both the economy and ties with the current U.S. administration, the plan has met fierce opposition from experts because of the building’s architectural significance — and because it is seen a symbol of resistance to the U.S.-led NATO bombing, widely viewed in the Balkan country as an unjust “aggression.”

The special law, known as Lex Specialis in Latin, allows authorities to push forward work on the site, including demolition of what remains of the two sprawling buildings seen as prime examples of mid-20th century architecture in the former Yugoslavia.

The bill does not mention Kushner’s company or details of any future development projects.

“We are demolishing the ruins in order to build,” populist Serbian Progressive Party lawmaker Milenko Jovanov said in defense of the project during the debate.

Critics say the special bill undermines Serbia’s legal system. Corruption watchdog Transparency Serbia has warned it “represents a combination of the two most dangerous forms of corruption — the legalization of law violations and the tailoring of general rules to fit hidden interests in one specific case.”

Vucic has claimed the ongoing judicial investigation was launched based on demands from abroad to "prevent Serbia from establishing better relations with the Trump administration.”

The $500-million luxury compound project would include a high-rise hotel, a luxury apartment complex, office spaces and shops. Authorities say Kushner’s company has committed to building a memorial complex within the site, dedicated to all victims of the NATO bombing campaign.

As the debate started earlier this week, hundreds of protesters rallied outside the Serbian parliament building with banners reading: “Culture is not for sale, we will not give up the general staff" building.

Opposition lawmaker Aleksandar Jovanovic described the law as a “crime” that would replace a heritage site with “casinos and Jacuzzis.”

Zdravko Ponos, a former Serbian army commander-in-chief who is now an opposition party leader, told lawmakers from the governing party that “you will demolish something that is a symbol for this nation.”

“With the agreement you signed with the most important son-in-law on the planet, you have obliged to tear this down and clear at the cost of Serbia's taxpayers,” Ponos said.

Serbia was bombed in 1999 for 78 days to force then-President Slobodan Milosevic, to end his crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Anti-NATO sentiments in Serbia remain strong to this day and many feel the U.S. role in revamping the army headquarters is particularly sensitive.

In the past year, Vucic has faced youth-led protests shaking his grip on power. Protesters have accused his government of rampant corruption in state projects. The protests started after a concrete canopy collapsed at a train station in the northern city of Novi Sad after renovation, killing 16 people.

Tens of thousands of people on Nov. 1 marked the tragedy's anniversar y in the city of Novi Sad.

Earlier this year, the government in Albania, another Balkan country, approved a $1.6 billion plan from Kushner’s company for investment off its Adriatic coast that envisages turning a communist-era fortified island into a luxury resort.

A pigeon flies through former Yugoslav army headquarters destroyed in a U.S.-led NATO bombing campaign in 1999, left, is seen in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

A giant Serbian flag is seen on a building near former Yugoslav army headquarters destroyed in a U.S.-led NATO bombing campaign in 1999, right, in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

A former Yugoslav army headquarters destroyed in a U.S.-led NATO bombing campaign in 1999, left, is seen in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that “there will be very serious retaliation” after two U.S. service members and one American civilian were killed in an attack in Syria that the United States blames on the Islamic State group.

“This was an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,” he said in a social media post.

The American president told reporters at the White House that Syria's president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was “devastated by what happened” and stressed that Syria was fighting alongside U.S. troops. Trump, in his post, said al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack.”

U.S. Central Command said three service members were wounded in an ambush Saturday by a lone IS member in central Syria. Trump said the three “seem to be doing pretty well.” The U.S. military said the gunman was killed.

The attack on U.S. troops in Syria was the first with fatalities since the fall of President Bashar Assad a year ago.

“There will be very serious retaliation,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

The Pentagon's chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, said the civilian killed was a U.S. interpreter. Parnell said the attack targeted soldiers involved in the ongoing counter-terrorism operations in the region and is under active investigation.

The shooting took place near historic Palmyra, according to the state-run SANA news agency, which earlier said two members of Syria’s security force and several U.S. service members had been wounded. The casualties were taken by helicopter to the al-Tanf garrison near the border with Iraq and Jordan.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attacker was a member of the Syrian security force.

Syria's Interior Ministry spokesman Nour al-Din al-Baba said a gunman linked to IS opened fire at the gate of a military post. He added that Syrian authorities are looking into whether the gunman was an IS member or only carried its extreme ideology. He denied reports that suggested that the attacker was a security member.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X: “Let it be known, if you target Americans — anywhere in the world — you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you.”

The U.S. has hundreds of troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting IS.

The U.S. had no diplomatic relations with Syria under Assad, but ties have warmed since the fall of the five-decade Assad family rule. Al-Sharaa, made a historic visit to Washington last month where he held talks with Trump. It was the first White House visit by a Syrian head of state since the Middle Eastern country gained independence from France in 1946 and came after the U.S. lifted sanctions imposed on Syria during the Assads’ rule.

Al-Sharaa led the rebel forces that toppled Bashar Assad in December 2024 and was named the country’s interim leader in January. Al-Sharaa once had ties to al-Qaida and had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head.

Last month, Syria joined the international coalition fighting against the IS as Damascus improves its relations with Western countries following the ouster of Assad when insurgents captured his seat of power in Damascus.

IS was defeated on the battlefield in Syria in 2019 but the group’s sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in the country. The United Nations says the group still has between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq.

U.S. troops, which have maintained a presence in different parts of Syria — including Al-Tanf garrison in the central province of Homs — to train other forces as part of a broad campaign against IS, have been targeted in the past. One of the deadliest attacks occurred in 2019 in the northern town of Manbij when a blast killed two U.S. service members and two American civilians as well as others from Syria while conducting a patrol.

Mroue reported from Beirut and Seung Min Kim from Washington.

An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect reference to Iraq.

President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs from the South Lawn of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Washington, en route to Baltimore to attend the Army-Navy football game. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)