[ad_1]
There are many scenes that pass through the Syrian citizen from the north to the south of Syria, but during the last two days he took a unique turn in the capital, Damascus, from which two contradictory images emerged.
The first is in front of the Sheikh Saad bakery in the Mazzeh neighborhood, and the second is a little further away at the “Congress Palace”, which witnessed what Damascus called a “national wedding”, through the conference. of refugees celebrated by the Assad regime with the support of Russia, to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees from abroad.
The two images were enough to show the details of the “safe and stable country” that the Syrian regime is promoting to win over outsiders, and at the same time they were like a show for other Syrians inside and outside, to cut off suspicion. certainty of some people, who may have some kind of hesitation inside. And they still ask, “Are we going back or are we going back?”
And between the “Sheikh Saad” area and the conference palace, the faces change and the goals and personalities differ. In front of the district’s first oven, hundreds of citizens gather in “queues” to get a package of bread, while in the Conference Palace, Syrian and Russian officials discuss the path of the return of Syrians abroad, far Syrians within the country that have adapted to their life, and there is no need for new integration programs to adapt to the circumstances of this stage and the situation.
During the conference, which was held as part of a large media promotion, the Assad regime did not address what Syria is witnessing, especially the governorates under its control, ignoring the successive crises that have weighed on poor-class Syrians. especially the crisis of bread, a substance that the Assad government had raised its prices to double. However, he was unable to ensure it properly.
Images and video recordings posted by local networks and Damascus activists on social networking sites, showing “queues” (columns) in which hundreds of citizens gathered in front of various bakeries, especially Sheikh Saad’s bakery in Mezzeh and the Ibn al-Ameed bakeries in the Rukn al-Din neighborhood, a situation that is not limited to Against the city of Damascus only, but also against Homs, Daraa and Aleppo.
“Aref” (29 years old) is a young man from the city of Idlib, and has lived in the capital Damascus for 5 years. He goes daily to Sheikh Saad Bakery in Mezzeh district, and tells the “Al Hurra” website: “My brothers and I have booked a daily program to go to the bakery, as long as we switch roles to ensure The allocation of bread of our family “.
The young man, who asked not to be identified, added: “The images do not convey the real reality on the ground, and whoever stands in line, especially with the current Crown crisis, savors the meaning of suffering and humiliation every hour. (…) When you discover that you have no value in this country, the size The oppression is greater, and it is something we see with our eyes in the ovens, in which we are becoming and sleeping at their doors.
In Damascus now there is no solution for citizens to see the bread crisis at a close level, according to the young man, who explains, based on the hadith of the “dependents” and familiar with the work of bakeries, that the crisis is greater than the information that was published about it. The issue is not related to a decrease in the quantities of grain supplied, but is related to fuel. Spare parts for ovens and primary supplies, the arrival and supply of which faces various obstacles, some related to the merchants who control them, and others to the sanctions imposed on the system.
Ongoing crisis … Why?
Selling bread in Syria is no longer the same as in the past. Rather, since September 19, the Assad government has sold it to citizens through the so-called “smart card”, according to the system of “slides” in the bakeries of Damascus and its countryside.
According to the new bread distribution mechanism, a family consisting of one or two people receives a package of bread and a family of three or four people receives two ties.
As for a family of five or six people, they get three ties, and seven or more people get four ties, and one tie contains seven loaves.
Transferring the sale to a “smart card” is a decision that was followed by several measures and changes by the Assad government, especially in bread, which is the basic item that the Syrian citizen needs in his daily life.
Perhaps the most prominent of the recent measures related to bread is to raise its price from 50 pounds to 100 pounds, and in addition to this, the Assad government raised the sale price of a ton of subsidized flour by 40 thousand Syrian pounds, justifying this step as “to come” due to the difficulties faced by the state in providing the material and its high value and costs. Sent. “
The economist and head of the “Syrian Economy Working Group”, Dr. Osama al-Qadi, said in an interview with the Al-Hurra website that the crisis of obtaining bread despite the increase in its price is related to the Russia’s attempt to pressure the Assad regime and the Iranian regime, to push them to follow the political path.
The judge says: “The Russians are delaying the supply of wheat to Syria until the regime obeys Russian orders, not only to sign 40 projects, but to move in the direction of implementing the Caesar Law and the return of refugees and interacting with the results of the Constitutional Committee, which emerged from the Sochi Conference. “
The economist explains that the Assad regime had signed to import 200 thousand tons of wheat from Russia, but so far only 26 thousand tons of wheat have arrived, which was a factor that helped the crisis of bakeries in Syria.
To this day, there are no clear justifications from the Assad regime government for the reasons that pushed it to raise the prices of subsidized materials in Syria, or the reasons for the lack of bread so far.
While the Assad regime accuses Western and US sanctions of being behind the economic crises, economic analysts confirm that the rise in bread prices is related to the Russian side and its delay in delivering flour supplies. , in recent weeks, which is similar to the fuel that Iran delivers to Syrian ports.
Another reason identified by the economist, Osama al-Qadi is behind the bread crisis, which is the inability of the Assad regime to buy wheat from farmers and entice them to sell their crops, stating: “It seems that farmers sold wheat to other regions or that demanded a price increase due to the enormous inflation that exists. “
The economist believes that the key to the solution lies in the hands of Russia, as it is the world’s largest wheat exporter. On the other hand, “the Russians cannot solve this Syrian crisis, except when the regime is completely subjugated and responds to the Russian political path.”
Bankruptcies and budget deficits
In the context of the above and within the discussion on the reasons behind the current bread crisis so far, the economist Yunus al-Karim, in statements to Al-Hurra, identified four reasons behind the current crisis, and was he hopes it will continue to the next stage.
The first reason, according to al-Karim, is “the loss of the general budget that supports wheat and commodities by more than 80% due to the change in the exchange rate of the Syrian pound, and consequently any support from the Syrian pound disappeared. current government, which has become an interim government, due to bankruptcy, and its inability to implement the 2020 budget provisions. “
Al-Karim added: “There is a reason related to the Caesar Law, which made many international banks and companies afraid to deal with anything related to the Assad regime, so they stopped their dealings and refrained from associating with anything. Sirius”.
In addition to the above, the economist explains that the fuel crisis and the crisis in obtaining maintenance spare parts for bakeries have also overshadowed the current crisis, in addition to the breakdowns that the ovens are witnessing, especially in the field, which were previously hit by Syrian regime aircraft.
Al-Karim confirms the statement of the economist Osama al-Qadi saying: “The regime does not have the capacity to buy wheat, due to lack of liquidity, and in the context of the Autonomous Administration in eastern Syria refraining from selling it, and it is an administrative authority that has large agricultural areas in northeast Syria. “
All the previous reasons for the bread crisis and the current reality that Syrian citizens experience in areas controlled by the Assad regime lead to what the United Nations World Food Program has warned, that the number of people suffering Food insecurity in Syria will increase if there is no “urgent aid”.
On Aug. 31, the program said 9.3 million people in Syria are food insecure and without urgent assistance, adding that “more than 2.2 million people may slide to the brink of hunger and poverty. “.
