Syrian cities under the control of the regime are witnessing an unprecedented fuel supply crisis, which has created a major transportation crisis, prompting hundreds of citizens to return to their homes on foot.
In his explanation of the crisis, the “Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources” in the regime’s government, Bassam Tohme, said that “the fuel crisis was not born overnight, but has been going on for more than 50 days. The government is working to address it by taking advantage of the stock that has been accumulated during the last period.”
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The regime’s government decided to reduce the allocations of tourist government cars by 40 percent. Tohme said that “the decision came to secure the needs of oil derivatives, necessary to provide basic services to the citizens”.
“We did not expect that supplies would be delayed for this period, and we were forced to take harsher measures, as stocks are provided for priorities and to cover basic needs. To preserve this available stock, it is directed towards basic services for citizens so that they are not interrupted, which forced us to reduce the last one, which was really harsh,” he added.
He pointed out that “there were never sufficient quantities in Syria during the previous phase to allow it to form a strategic stock, where it meets the interruptions for a long time, as the derivatives supplied were only as needed.”
In parallel, the Baath Party announced a 40 percent reduction in its fuel allocations, as well as the suspension of travel missions that entail the payment of fuel.
At the popular level, the arrival of fuel for public and private cars was delayed for about 20 days in Aleppo. This comes in conjunction with the increase in demand for them in light of the urgent need, whether to warm from the harsh winter cold, or due to the direct repercussions of their shortage on the reality of transportation in all axes of the city. This caused a significant rise in prices on the black market.
Gasoline prices on the black market have risen consecutively, jumping rapidly from 7,000 Syrian pounds per liter to more than 12,000 pounds, according to the latest price recorded on the black market exchange on Wednesday afternoon, according to the pro-regime Athr Press website.
For its part, the Octane 95 petrol stations in Aleppo witnessed huge overcrowding of cars in gas stations, which reached a length of several kilometres of parked cars.
The Lattakia governorate witnessed unprecedented crowding of citizens, at parking lots and in all garages, waiting for a means of transportation, but to no avail. As a result, most of them went on foot to their destinations and others returned to their homes, due to their remote places of work, especially rural residents, according to the pro-regime Al-Watan newspaper.
The newspaper quoted citizens from Lattakia as saying that the crisis has worsened significantly, with the allocation of gas to the taxis cut by half.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
