BEIRUT (AP) – Lines run for miles outside gas stations in Syrian cities, with an average wait of five hours to fill a tank. In bakeries, people push and push during long and chaotic waits for the time to collect the quota of two packages of bread per day per family.
On the streets of the capital, Damascus, beggars approach drivers and passers-by, begging for food or money. Medicines, baby milk and diapers can hardly be found.
How Syria marks its 10th anniversary on the Monday of the start of its revolt that turned into civil war, President Bashar Assad may still be in power, supported by Russia and Iran. But millions of people are being pushed further into poverty, and most families are hardly able to get together enough to secure their next meal.
With Assad preparing to run for a fourth seven-year presidential term in the spring, some question whether he will be able to survive the severe economic deterioration and anger in the areas under his control. Poverty levels are now worse than at any time during the 10 years of conflict.
“Life here is a picture of humiliation and everyday suffering,” said a woman in Damascus. Her husband lost his job at an electronics store last month, and now the family is taking advantage of scarce savings that are rapidly evaporating. The woman said she started teaching part-time to help survive. Like others, she spoke on condition that her identity remained hidden, fearing she would be arrested.
With two children and an elderly father to care for, she said that life has become unbearably difficult and she is filled with an anxiety for the future. Until recently, she was able to smuggle her father’s medicine from Lebanon, but now Lebanon has its own collapse and scarcity.
“I go to the souk and really have to think about priorities, buying only what is necessary to cook. I try not to look at the other things that my kids may like, ”she said.
The decade of war caused unfathomable destruction in Syria. Almost half a million people were killed and more than half of the pre-war population of 23 million displaced, whether inside or outside the country’s borders, the worst displacement crisis in the world since World War II. The infrastructure is in ruins.
During most of the conflict, Assad was able to protect Syrians in government-controlled territories from unbearable economic pain. Even though at times, the state kept fuel, medicine and other supplies arriving and the currency sustained.
Now he has gained a decisive advantage in the war with the help of Russia and Iran, his dominance over the areas under his control is unquestionable and the rebellion is largely crushed.
But the economy collapsed with surprising speed. It was hit by a double blow of new long-range American sanctions imposed last year and the financial collapse in Lebanon, Syria’s main link with the outside world. This proved to be too much, in addition to the tensions of war, government corruption, other Western sanctions in place for years and the coronavirus pandemic.
The United Nations says that more than 80% of Syrians now live in poverty and 60% are at risk of starvation. The currency fell, now at 4,000 Syrian pounds to the dollar on the black market, compared to 700 a year ago and 47 at the start of the conflict in 2011.
“When you put all these things together, it is not surprising that we are seeing an increase in food insecurity and hunger,” said Arif Hussein, chief economist for the UN World Food Program. “Not just in breadth, which means many, many people, but also in depth, which means that people are closer to hunger today than ever before.”
Residents of government-controlled areas who spoke to The Associated Press paint a bleak picture. Prices go up several times a day. Families now rely on electronic “smart cards” to secure subsidized and rationed goods that include fuel, gas canisters, tea, sugar, rice and bread. To collect them, they wait in long lines, often pushing, pushing and fighting.
At gas stations, some park their cars at night to claim a place in the queue and return early in the morning to refuel their cars. Residents hitchhike or walk whenever possible to avoid wasting fuel.
REPUBLIC OF QUEUES
“It’s the ‘Republic of Queues’,” said Ibrahim Hamidi, a London-based Syrian journalist who covers Syrian affairs for the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.
Despite growing discontent, the Assad government is not threatened, because people are so busy with their own survival, he said. “They don’t have time to think about anything political. They don’t have time to think about the transition, or the constitution or reforms, because they are busy all the time. “
Food prices increased by 230% last year, and many Syrians say they are consumed in the search for essential products that are no longer available. Many families are without meat and fruit for months. In vegetable markets, people usually buy a single piece because they cannot buy more. A civil servant’s monthly salary is now worth $ 15 to $ 20, compared with about $ 170 a year ago.
In the main cities, many plan the day according to the electricity schedule, as the power is cut off four hours every two hours, sometimes more. Unlike Lebanon, where neighborhood generators have been institutionalized, only wealthy people can buy them in Syria.
In the winter, with the scarcity of gas canisters, many resorted to using toxic old wood heaters to keep warm, with children combing through the garbage in search of something to burn.
The simultaneous crises in Lebanon and Syria have been fueled. Where Lebanese used to travel to Damascus to buy cheap, good quality medicines, fabrics and other products, Lebanon’s subsidized products, including fuel and medicines, are now smuggled into Syria, aggravating the country’s economic crisis.
A Syrian media activist who goes by the alias Omar Hariri said that rations for bread, gasoline, cooking gas and diesel barely cover 10% of people’s needs. Waiting for hours in line has become “a way of life,” he said.
“I have a relative who took his turn to buy gasoline in January, after two months of cold weather, and was forced to buy on the black market at a much higher price,” he said.
WALLS OF FEAR
Syrian economist Samir Seifan said the collapse of Lebanon’s banking system, U.S. sanctions and the pandemic are “factors that have exploded at the same time”. Now the regime has no more sources of income, so they are printing money and fueling inflation, he said.
Frustration is expressed even among Assad’s most loyal supporters. A lawmaker recently questioned why Iran and Russia were not helping by sending oil and wheat.
The government scolded, arresting at least nine people in the past six weeks, including a major state TV anchor for social media posts deemed critical.
“The regime is trying to rebuild the walls of fear, to remind people that even if you are loyal, you cannot criticize us,” said Hamidi.
Assad blames the US, calling his sanctions economic terrorism aimed at starving people. The change in regional dynamics is increasing their confidence; some Arab Gulf countries that supported the Syrian opposition now openly criticize sanctions.
“In 10 years of war, the (Syrian) regime has not offered a single concession. There is a general feeling that things can only get worse, ”said Hamidi.
“There is no horizon, there is no hope.”
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Associated Press editor Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed reporting.
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Follow the AP coverage of the 10th anniversary of the Arab Spring uprisings at https://apnews.com/hub/arab-spring