How does the Assad regime create and benefit from the deteriorating living conditions in Syria?
September 24, 2020
Vehicles queue in a street to get to a gas station in the city of Hama in central Syria, 9/22/2020 (Al-Watan)
AMMAN As the cost-of-living crisis worsens in Syrian regime-held territories especially with shortages of gasoline, bread and other basic goods meant to be provided through the government-subsidized “smart card” system a black market for the same commodities, alongside the private sector, seems to be prospering.
The government continually announces new measures and mechanisms to support Syrians, more than 80 percent of whom suffer from poverty. However, it seems that these very measures and mechanisms are but a means of strengthening the “free market” (of unsubsidized goods) and opening the door to illicit profits for influential people with ties to the Assad regime.