(Zaman Al Wasl)- Residents of the northwestern Syria have been suffering high fuel prices following the closure of a supply route between the town of Azaz and Afrin as the Turkish forces backed by Free Syrian Army launch major attack to seize Afrin region at the border.
As Operation Olive Branch enters the second month, fuel stocks are almost run out from the province of Idlib and parts of Aleppo countryside amid hike in prices.
The barrel of diesel costs $300; an increase reached almost three thirds from the actual price two months ago.
Despite the entry of the fuel oil from Turkey through the border crossing of Bab Al-Hawa, the crisis was not resolved.
One of the oil traders in Turkey told Zaman al-Wasl that he had requested to supply large quantities of fuel and even domestic gas to the countryside of Idlib through Bab al-Hawa.
The soar of prices has also hit the bakeries pushing number of it to close due to lack of fuel. Also, some of the emergency and health centers have been closed, warning of a humanitarian disaster in the region.
Idlib has been a haven for tens of thousands of rebels and civilians who were forced to abandon their homes in other parts of western Syria that the regime and its foreign military allies have recaptured from rebels.
It has already been the target of intensive strikes by the Russia and regime air forces in the past year that have killed thousands of civilians and destroyed hospitals and civil defense centers.
The UN relief agencies said About 5.6 million Syria people in 1,244 communities are in "acute need," including 2.9 million in hard-to-reach and besieged locations.
On Saturday, Turkish forces and FSA advanced to within just a few kilometres of the flashpoint town of Afrin, AFP said.
The move came a day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his troops and the Syrian fighters they were backing could break into the Kurdish-controlled town "at any moment."
Turkey launched operation "Olive Branch" on January 20 against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), a powerful militia that controls the Afrin region in northwest Syria and which Ankara regards as a "terror group".
he Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the attacking forces "are now four kilometres (2.5 miles) away from the town of Afrin from the northeast, where there are intense clashes, air strikes, and artillery fire."
Zaman Al Wasl
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