(Zaman Al Wasl)- The suffering of people in rebel-held areas in northern Syria has increased due to the recent rise in fuel prices, which put low income people in front of hard choices, in light of the low temperatures and the flash floods which unleashed by heavy rains.
Mohammed Ba’aj, a resident of the town of Azaz near the Turkish border, says the price of fuel barrel has jumped from 40,000 SP (90$) to 60,000 SP (110$) in few weeks, what has been reflected negatively on the poor families, who already suffer from harsh living conditions and economic hardship due to the unemployment and lack of income.
Despite the widespread use of firewood as alternative means of heating, a large number of these families were hoping to buy diesel fuel for heating, because it is less in terms of risk and faster ignition no matter how volatile weather, Ba’aj said.
The increase in the price of fuel is due to the monopoly of war traders who hide fuel to sell it in high prices in the winter, as well due to cancers of the iminent Turkish military operation in northern Syria against the Kurdish militias.
The de-militarized zone in northern Syria was announced by rebel backer Ankara and Damascus ally Moscow in September to separate government troops from rebel fighters in Idlib and adjacent areas.
Under the deal, the rebels were supposed to have removed all heavy weapons from the buffer zone by Oct. 10 but skirmishes have continued to pit regime forces against militants and other insurgents on the ground.
Zuhair Mansour, a fuel trader in the town of al-Bab, says the main reason behind the high prices of fuel, is the greed of key traders and their monopoly of all kinds suddenly, noting that the fuel is the primary material for the production of diesel which enters the opposition areas from Kurdish-held region of Manbij.
The price of diesel fuel has recently increased by 50%, and currently the price for one liter of of diesel is 300 SP (8$).
Hassan Khalil, a farmer in Gendriris town in the countryside of Afrin, complained of the high prices of diesel that reflected on the cost of agricultural land, to become 20,000 SP per hectare, 25% increase.
Khalil added that the new prices had caused an increase in tariffs for transportation and public transportation, electricity subscriptions, as well as some food commodities, including bread.
Since the Syrian revolution erupted in 2011, more than 470,000 people have been killed, and more than 6 million people have been displaced.
Zaman Al Wasl
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