A cut in the army's food portions and supplies has sparked outrage among Bashar al-Assad's loyalists who considered the procedure as an insult for soldiers who sacrificed their lives to keep Assad on his throne.
The General Command of the Army and the Armed Forces issued a decision to reduce the daily meals to a bundle of bread for every three soldiers and permanently cut rice and dairy. In a clear allusion to the U.S.’s Caesar sanctions, loyalist sites stated that the decision came due to “the current circumstances in Syria.”
This, however, is not the first time the army’s portions have been reduced. A few months ago, the portions of chicken went from 4 times to twice a month, contingent on the availability of chicken in the market.
Throughout decades of the Assad family reign, feeding soldiers has been a big problem, given the decline in quantity and specifications of the meals provided due to the corrupt deals that embezzled billions to the different parties involved in the process, from top command to the chefs cooking and distributing meals.
Opposition factions and hardline groups have killed more than 220,000 pro-regime forces since the armed conflict erupted nine years ago, according to local monitoring groups.
During the last years in particular, the situation deteriorated even further, which led many to speak up against the shortage and poor quality of food, for all their efforts and sacrifices.
Assad’s decision comes as part of a wider campaign to tighten the belts all over Syria, using the Caesar Act as a pretext, despite it excluding food and medications from the sanctions.
Recently, the regime issued yet another decision to raise the price of the sugar from 350 to 800 SYP/kilo and rice from 400 to 900 SYP/kilo, which observers described as “Assad’s Caesar”, a sanction law that applies to the people, making them believe that the Caesar Act is to blame and holding the U.S. responsible, thus killing two birds with one stone.
With testimonies from territories under Assad’s control confirm that the situation in these areas is aggravating with catastrophic outcomes, international organizations led by the United Nations are trying to collect billions of dollars in donations to face the shadow of an unprecedented famine hanging over about 10 million Syrians who live extreme poverty.
The nine-year-old conflict in Syria has killed more than 490,000 people and displaced 13 millions.
Zaman A Wasl
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