A crippling fuel shortage piles extreme hardship on war-weary Syrians

Special A crippling fuel shortage piles extreme hardship on war-weary Syrians
A young Syrian worker sells heaters as winter approaches in Raqqa, scene of some of the worst fighting of the conflict. (AFP)
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Updated 25 December 2022

A crippling fuel shortage piles extreme hardship on war-weary Syrians

A crippling fuel shortage piles extreme hardship on war-weary Syrians
  • Latest crisis, which began to bite in early December, has paralyzed life in regime-controlled areas 
  • Experts say sanctions have impoverished the population while failing to bring Syria closer to peace

LONDON: “Syria is dead, desperate for someone to pull the plug.” This is how Nour, a 26-year-old nutritionist from Homs, summed up the situation in her home country, more than a decade on from the outbreak of a civil war and amid a worsening economic crisis.

A shortage of fuel, which began to bite harder with the onset of winter, has paralyzed life in regime-controlled areas of Syria, including the capital Damascus, forcing authorities to suspend or reduce many essential public services.

On Dec. 5, the government almost doubled the price of fuel overnight. Daily power outages now last up to 22 hours on average, even in the capital’s upmarket neighborhoods. Many residents cannot afford to heat their homes as winter temperatures plunge.




Syrians queue to fill their tanks amid a fuel crisis that has sent living standards plummeting. (AFP)

Although the fighting between the government and rebel factions has subsided in recent years, Syria remains the site of one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises, with millions of civilians still displaced, infrastructure in ruins, and much of the population living below the poverty line.

Syria’s isolation has deepened with the imposition in 2020 of the toughest US sanctions ever targeting the regime of President Bashar Assad.

“The current fuel crisis in government-controlled areas is not a novel aspect of the conflict economy in Syria,” Mohammad Al-Asadi, a Germany-based research economist at the Syrian Center for Policy Research, told Arab News.

The SCPR has tracked several major fuel shortages since 2020, but, according to Al-Asadi, “the current shortage is the most economically and socially impactful during the last couple of years.”

Syria’s Ministry of Internal Trade recently announced plans to sell industrial and commercial diesel at 5,400 Syrian pounds a liter — up from 2,500 Syrian pounds in late November — while petrol will be sold at 4,900 Syrian pounds a liter.

The price of fuel distributed through the state-owned Syrian Petroleum Company will remain at 2,500 Syrian pounds per liter.

The pent-up demand for fuel has had an adverse impact on the value of the Syrian pound, which hit a new record low on Dec. 10.

The dollar exchange rate on the black market surpassed 6,000 Syrian pounds for the first time, while the central bank’s rate stood at 3,015 Syrian pounds. In 2011, when the civil war began, the official rate was 47 Syrian pounds.

Reports say diesel and petrol shortages have resulted in severe overcrowding at bus terminals in both Damascus and outlying areas, as the government cut fuel allocations for minibus services — the cheapest mode of transport available to Syrians.

The situation is similar in Homs, geographically the largest governorate of Syria.

“After 1pm, minibuses stop operating, and we take any vehicle we find on the road to commute home,” said Nour. “Passengers sometimes get into fist fights over seats on minibuses and shared taxis.”

Khaled, a 21-year-old accounting student who gave only his first name, earns about 50,000 Syrian pounds a month from waitering. A shared-taxi trip from Zabadani, Rif Dimashq, to the Mezzeh highway in Damascus — a distance of just 48 km — cost him 6,800 Syrian pounds earlier this month.

By contrast, Khaled told Arab News: “I paid 3,300 for the same journey in mid-November.”

In practical terms, high inflation has meant a cost-of-living crisis, with prices of goods increasing across the board but real wages remaining stagnant.

“A computer programmer can make about 800,000 pounds a month in the private sector, but this is barely enough for rent, basic goods and transport costs,” a Damascus-based journalist, who asked not to be identified, told Arab News.

In December 2021, the minimum state salary was around 93,000 Syrian pounds, according to Shaam Times, a government-affiliated news website.

SCPR researcher Al-Asadi expects the national fuel shortage “to last as long as the multi-level fragmentation in the country lasts” — a state of affairs he says authorities are unlikely to address.




A Syrian man fills a container as he sells diesel beside a road amid a fuel crisis in northeastern Syria. (AFP)

“None of the local political powers in Syria has made real efforts to overcome deep socioeconomic challenges facing the country, including energy and fuel shortages,” he told Arab News.

“After 12 years of conflict, most efforts are still dedicated to directing the remaining financial, physical, and human resources to serve activities related to the war economy at the expense of restoring the normal economic cycle based on production.

“Hence, investments in alternative energy solutions have received little interest during the last decade.”

Oil revenues accounted for between 5 and 7 percent of Syria’s gross domestic product prior to the civil war. Total reserves are estimated at 2.5 billion barrels, with at least 75 percent of these reserves in the fields surrounding Deir ez-Zor, outside the regime’s sphere of control.  

The Assad regime has repeatedly accused US forces deployed in the Kurdish-majority northeast of the country of “looting” Syrian oil, thereby contributing to the fuel shortage.

On Dec. 1, the Syrian state news agency SANA claimed that a convoy of 54 tankers, “loaded with plundered oil,” was spotted in Al-Yaarubiyah, in Hasakah province, traveling through the Al-Mahmudiyah border crossing into Iraq.

Northeast Syria has been largely self ruled since regime forces withdrew from the area in 2011 to fend off the uprising elsewhere in the country. 

In the summer of 2014, Daesh militants exploited this power vacuum, seizing control of several major towns, including Raqqa, and many of the region’s lucrative oilfields.




“Without an inclusive political arrangement, conclusive solutions for such shortages remain far away,” said Mohammad Al-Asadi, Research economist at the Syrian Center for Policy Research. (Supplied)

A coalition of Arab and Kurdish militias, later dubbed the Syrian Democratic Forces, soon dislodged the extremist group with US military support, taking charge of the oilfields.

The Autonomous Administration of North East Syria (AANES), which assumed control of these territories, began selling this oil to neighboring countries and to the Assad regime.

In 2019, President Donald Trump announced he was withdrawing US forces from northeast Syria but leaving a small contingent to secure the oil. 

In the same month, it was announced that US troops would be deployed to Deir ez-Zor to help the SDF retain control of oil fields from Daesh.

Often unable to secure enough fuel supply from its Iranian allies, the Assad government has pressured the AANES to provide more fuel to regime-held areas by withholding essential supplies like food, medicine, and building materials. 

In a 2021 report, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said that while the US administration has denied looting Syrian oil, it has implemented a “morally and legally dubious plan,” which involved supporting its Kurdish allies by keeping the oil “out of the hands of the Assad regime” and “helping to refine and sell it.”

The general consensus of Syria analysts is that the modest US involvement is not the primary cause of the current fuel crisis.

“Although sanctions and oil looting from the oil-rich eastern areas to the neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan region contribute to deepening the fuel crisis in the country, these are not the most important factors,” Al-Asadi told Arab News.

“The key drivers for the renewed fuel crisis — and all similar socioeconomic challenges — cannot be disconnected from the nature of the political economy that has prevailed in the country during the last decade, particularly aspects related to political fragmentation, subordination to foreign political actors, and dominating major resources and investment opportunities by allies.”

To make matters worse, aid workers say the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February this year pushed the humanitarian crisis in Syria to the back burner.

After spending about two weeks in Syria in November, Alena Douhan, the UN special rapporteur on human rights, claimed that the current US, EU and UK sanctions “may amount to crimes against humanity.”




A Syrian man sells fuel at a makeshift roadside stall outside Raqqa. (AFP)

Douhan called for the immediate lifting of the sanctions as they “harm human rights and prevent any efforts for early recovery.”

Even some critics of the Assad regime say economic sanctions have done little to bring Syria’s warring parties closer to a political solution, all the while further impoverishing the population.

“The Assad regime is not going anywhere, so many observers increasingly question the utility of sanctions that harm not only the regime, but the Syrian people as well,” David Romano, professor of Middle East politics at Missouri State University, told Arab News.

“While there are provisions for things like export waivers for items of humanitarian importance for the Syrian people, in practice, the American and European sanctions on Syria have seriously harmed an already crippled economy — country wide,” he said.

On Dec. 5, residents of Suwayda in Syria’s southwest took to the streets to protest against falling standards of living. The demonstration quickly escalated into clashes with local security forces, leaving two people dead and eight injured.

“Ordinary people’s suffering is expected to increase,” said Al-Asadi. “(Particularly) workers relying primarily on transportation to secure their livelihoods, such as farmers, taxi and microbus drivers, and workers in the delivery sector.”

Owing to rising transportation costs for many commonly traded goods and services, he expects the current fuel shortages “to last until mid-January 2023 at least,” inflationary pressures to increase, and many businesses “to face major interruptions. Although some oil tankers are expected to reach Syria during the coming few weeks, the amounts supplied may not be sufficient to overcome the crisis.”

Instead of finding solutions to the fuel crisis, the government is shifting “the burden of the conflict to households,” Al-Asadi told Arab News, adding that “without an inclusive political arrangement, conclusive solutions for such shortages remain far away.”


Gaza fisherman tests waters in legal fight over Israeli blockade

Gaza fisherman tests waters in legal fight over Israeli blockade
Updated 11 sec ago

Gaza fisherman tests waters in legal fight over Israeli blockade

Gaza fisherman tests waters in legal fight over Israeli blockade
  • Palestinians argue it is an effective siege that has crippled Gaza’s economy
  • Fishing zone currently extends to only between 11km and 28km off the Gaza coast
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Gaza fisherman Jihad Al-Hissi is used to rough waters but he now faces a new storm. An Israeli court may seize his boat after he breached the limits of the enclave’s fishing zone.
The issue is crucial for thousands in the blockaded Palestinian territory of 2.3 million people, where fishing in the Mediterranean Sea remains one of the few economic lifelines.
Hissi, 55, with square shoulders and a scruffy beard, told his story at Gaza’s dock early one morning as fishermen sold their overnight catch of sea bream, prawns and sardines.
For now he has his boat, but its fate is uncertain as Israeli authorities argue before a Haifa court that it should be permanently taken away.
The vessel, used to catch gamberi prawns off southern Gaza near Egypt, is named the “Hajj Rajab,” but its owners have erased the name from its yellow hull.
“I don’t want the Israelis to spot us and seize my boat,” said Hissi, who had a violent encounter with an Israeli naval patrol boat more than a year ago.
Israel says its land, air and sea blockade of Gaza is needed to protect it from rocket and other attacks from Hamas and to prevent arms smuggling to the Islamist militant movement.
Palestinians argue it is an effective siege that has crippled Gaza’s economy and further impoverished its people, while the fishing limits deny it crucial protein.
Last year’s incident came on February 14 when Hissi’s vessel ventured beyond the maritime zone that Israel declared in 2007, the year Hamas seized power in Gaza.
Jihad’s brother Nihad, who was at sea that day, said that “100 meters beyond the area, we were surprised by three Israeli boats with commandos.
“They attacked our boat ... tied us up and arrested us.”
The boat’s cabin is still damaged from the water cannon blasts and the rubber-encased bullets fired by the Israeli forces that day.
Israel, in documents presented to court, accuses Hissi of having “repeatedly violated the security restrictions imposed by the Israeli army in the maritime zone adjacent to Gaza.”
The Israeli non-government group Gisha has helped defend Hissi and in September secured the boat’s return, but Israeli authorities now demand the court “permanently confiscate” the vessel.
The fishing zone allowed by Israel currently extends only to the heavily fished areas between six and 15 nautical miles (about 11 to 28 kilometers) off the Gaza coast.
Hissi argues this is less than the maximum of 20 nautical miles agreed in the 1990s under the Israeli-Palestinian agreements in Oslo.
But he also admits to going even beyond that from time to time, in search of shrimp which nets around $21 per kilogram (2.2 pounds) and can make the difference between profit and loss.
The legal fight is closely watched by thousands of fishermen in Gaza.
If Hissi’s boat is permanently confiscated, this would spell “a serious threat to the thousands of fishermen in Gaza, because it aims to put an end to fishing,” charged Nizar Ayyash, president of the union representing the 4,000 fishermen in Gaza.
The court battle comes amid a rise in Israel’s temporary seizures of fishing boats suspected of smuggling or breaching the fishing zone.
Last year saw 23 boat confiscations, the highest number since 2018, according to the Palestinian non-governmental group Al-Mezan.
The group also recorded 474 security incidents involving Gaza fishermen last year, the most in five years.
Gisha lawyer Muna Haddad argued that the case was “outrageous” and came amid “an unprecedented escalation in targeting those fishermen.”
Haddad accused Israel of misusing provisions of international law on armed conflict regarding the seizure of enemy ships by imposing them on civilians.
In the court documents seen by AFP, Israel claims Hissi “abused” legal protections and that his crew had “threatened” the safety of soldiers during the maritime seizure.
Israeli military officials assured AFP they wanted to support Gaza’s economy — but without compromising Israel’s security.
“We fish to survive,” said Hissi, whose family once lived in Jaffa, now part of Tel Aviv, before fleeing to Gaza during the 1948 war.
“And we will continue to fish even when our profits are low. I don’t know how to do anything else in life anyway.”

Syria says Israel attacked Aleppo airport, no casualties

Syria says Israel attacked Aleppo airport, no casualties
Updated 10 min 44 sec ago

Syria says Israel attacked Aleppo airport, no casualties

Syria says Israel attacked Aleppo airport, no casualties
  • Attack causes material damage in the second attack on the facility this month
  • Airport has been one of the main channels for the flow of aid into the country after the Feb. 6 earthquake

DAMASCUS: An Israeli airstrike early Wednesday targeted the international airport of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, causing material damage in the second attack on the facility this month, state media report.
State news agency SANA, quoting an unnamed military official, did not mention if the strike caused any deaths or injuries. It said warplanes fired the missiles toward Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and once commercial center, while flying over the Mediterranean.
The airport has been one of the main channels for the flow of aid into the country after the Feb. 6 earthquake hit Turkiye and Syria, killing over 50,000 people, including more than 6,000 in Syria.
On March 7, an Israeli airstrike put the airport out of service for several days and flights were rerouted to two other airports in the war-torn country until the damage was fixed.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, including attacks on the Damascus and Aleppo airports, but it rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations.
Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
Israel has targeted airports and seaports in the government-held parts of Syria in an apparent attempt to prevent arms shipments from Iran to militant groups backed by Tehran, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.


Probable civilian deaths during British air strikes in Iraq throw doubt on ‘perfect’ war claims

Probable civilian deaths during British air strikes in Iraq throw doubt on ‘perfect’ war claims
Updated 25 min 48 sec ago

Probable civilian deaths during British air strikes in Iraq throw doubt on ‘perfect’ war claims

Probable civilian deaths during British air strikes in Iraq throw doubt on ‘perfect’ war claims
  • UK forces were probably responsible for civilian deaths in at least six strikes on the city of Mosul in 2016 and 2017

LONDON: Civilian deaths as a result of air strikes on Daesh targets in Iraq have been linked to British forces, according to a Guardian investigation released on Tuesday.

Forces in the US-led coalition fighting against Daesh in Iraq have admitted the killings of hundreds of civilians in Iraq in the period after 2014, but Britain’s government and military have long claimed that a “perfect” war was fought, in which no non-combatants or ordinary Iraqis were killed.

However, the report, which was carried out with the watchdog Airwars, concluded that UK forces were probably responsible for civilian deaths in at least six strikes on the city of Mosul in 2016 and 2017.

In the strikes highlighted, the coalition admits the deaths of 26 civilians, and victims of two of the strikes were identified in the report.

A further strike on Jan. 9, 2017 on Mosul, which coalition officials accepted killed two civilians, has been confirmed as a Royal Air Force mission, but British officials deny that the casualties were civilian but rather legitimate militant targets.

British bombing in Iraq as part of the Operation Inherent Resolve coalition efforts against Daesh started in 2014, and in Syria the year after, with more than 4,000 munitions in the two countries, the report concluded.

UK military figures claim 3,052 Daesh militants were killed in Iraq with no civilian deaths, with 1,017 militants killed in Syria with one civilian death, between 2014 and 2020.

“There is no evidence or indication that civilian casualties were caused by strikes in Syria and Iraq,” a Ministry of Defense spokesperson told the Guardian.

“The UK always minimizes the risk of civilian casualties through our rigorous processes and carefully examines a range of evidence to do this, including comprehensive analysis of the mission data for every strike,” the spokesperson said.

However, critics say that the British position is not convincing.

Former military officials have called the claim of no civilian deaths in Iraq “a stretch” and “nonsense,” especially after the 2016 Chilcot report into the UK’s role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq found that not enough had been done to locate injured or killed non-combatants.

If Britain is forced to accept responsibility for civilian deaths, a law passed in 2021 set a six-year cut-off point for compensation claims for survivors, which leaves those in Iraq and Syria unable to make a claim against the government.

 


Kuwait, UK hold strategic dialogue in London

Kuwait, UK hold strategic dialogue in London
Updated 22 March 2023

Kuwait, UK hold strategic dialogue in London

Kuwait, UK hold strategic dialogue in London

LONDON: The first session of strategic dialogues between Kuwait and the UK were held in London on Monday with the aim of strengthening bilateral relations and cooperation in several fields, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

The Kuwaiti side was led by Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah while the British side was chaired by James Cleverly, secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs. 

During the session, Cleverly said although the world has witnessed significant changes, Kuwaiti-British relations had grown stronger. He also lauded Kuwait’s well-balanced foreign policy, which focuses on promoting regional security and peace. 

Sheikh Salem and Cleverly discussed the most recent regional and international developments as well as strategies for enhancing international cooperation. They also coordinated on issues such as the situation in occupied Palestinian territories and humanitarian aid for Ukraine.
 


Houthi court sentences Yemeni YouTubers to different prison terms

Houthi court sentences Yemeni YouTubers to different prison terms
Updated 22 March 2023

Houthi court sentences Yemeni YouTubers to different prison terms

Houthi court sentences Yemeni YouTubers to different prison terms
  • The four YouTubers were apprehended by the Houthis from various places in Sanaa and at various periods in December and January

AL-MUKALLA: A Houthi-controlled court in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, sentenced four Yemeni YouTubers to different prison sentences on Tuesday and shut down their internet channels after accusing them of inciting the public against the militia, rekindling indignation against the Yemeni militia and their habit of punishing dissidents through courts.

Abdul Majeed Sabra, a Yemeni lawyer who defends abductees held in Houthi prisons, said that the Specialized Criminal Court of First Instance in Sanaa sentenced Ahmad Elaw to three years in prison, Mustafa Al-Mawmari to one and a half years, Ahmed Hajjar to one year, and Hamoud Al-Mesbahi to six months, accusing them of circulating false information to damage national security.

The court ordered the closure of their YouTube channels and a fine of 10 million Yemeni riyals ($1=547 riyals in Houthi-controlled territories). The court also ordered the confiscation of Elaw’s mobile phones, cameras, and bank accounts.

Waddah Qutaish, the YouTubers’ attorney, said on his Facebook page that the judge read out the judgment without providing any grounds or evidence for granting it, calling the sentence “unjust” and intended to stifle free speech, and stating that he has filed an appeal.

The four YouTubers were apprehended by the Houthis from various places in Sanaa and at various periods in December and January.

The Houthis abducted Hajjar, a well-known Yemeni comedian, actor, and YouTuber, as he walked down Al-Zubairi street in Sanaa in December, just days after he appeared in a video criticizing the Houthis for overtaxing people, failing to pay government salaries, corruption, and failing to address aggravating poverty.

The Houthis kidnapped the other three YouTubers in January after they released videos showing support for Hajar, calling for his release, and criticizing the Houthis once more.

Al-Mawmari is the most popular YouTuber with over 2 million YouTube subscribers and tens of thousands of Facebook fans, followed by Elaw with 800,000 YouTube subscribers.

On Monday, Houthi security services released a video of the YouTubers confessing to inciting the public to revolt against the movement, as well as creating fake content and social media accounts, apologizing for criticizing the militia, and blaming “aggression” for the worsening economic situation in Sanaa, referring to the Yemeni government and the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen.

The ruling has provoked protests against the Houthis, who have been accused of attempting to muzzle dissenting voices. “Al-Houthi is an unruly gang that utilizes the court as a weapon for repression…and the abolition of individual liberties,” Mohammed Al-Ahmadi, a Yemeni journalist, said on Facebook.