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Yemen Forms ‘National Shield Forces’ Headed by Al-Alimi

Al-Alimi upon his return to Aden on Saturday. (Saba)
Al-Alimi upon his return to Aden on Saturday. (Saba)
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Yemen Forms ‘National Shield Forces’ Headed by Al-Alimi

Al-Alimi upon his return to Aden on Saturday. (Saba)
Al-Alimi upon his return to Aden on Saturday. (Saba)

Chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi issued a presidential decree to form the “National Shield Forces,” a military force under his direct command.

The decree is part of efforts, carried out by the higher military and security commission, to restructure the many military formations in Yemen and bring them under the Defense Ministry.

The National Shield Forces will act as a reserve force that answers to the commander of the armed forces, al-Alimi.

Al-Alimi will determine the number of the members of the force, its duties and area of operations.

Al-Alimi had returned to the Yemeni interim capital Aden from Riyadh. He has been away from Aden for nearly 50 days.

In official statements, he underscored the keenness of the PLC and government in committing to their pledges to the Yemeni people.

The pledges include working from inside Yemen, rebuilding state institutions, improving living and economic conditions and consolidating Yemen’s standing in its regional and international surroundings.

Al-Alimi said the new year will witness the laying of the foundation stone of several service and development projects with the support of the Arab coalition that is led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

He expressed his gratitude to the coalition and donor countries that “constantly respond” to Yemen’s appeals to ease the humanitarian suffering of its people.

He blamed the dire humanitarian crisis on the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist militias.

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Cash Crunch Leaves Syrians Queueing for Hours to Collect Salaries

Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
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Cash Crunch Leaves Syrians Queueing for Hours to Collect Salaries

Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP

Seated on the pavement outside a bank in central Damascus, Abu Fares's face is worn with exhaustion as he waits to collect a small portion of his pension.
"I've been here for four hours and I haven't so much as touched my pension," said the 77-year-old, who did not wish to give his full name.

"The cash dispensers are under-stocked and the queues are long," he continued.

Since the overthrow of president Bashar al-Assad last December, Syria has been struggling to emerge from the wake of nearly 14 years of civil war, and its banking sector is no exception.

Decades of punishing sanctions imposed on the Assad dynasty -- which the new authorities are seeking to have lifted -- have left about 90 percent of Syrians under the poverty line, according to the United Nations.

The liquidity crisis has forced authorities to drastically limit cash withdrawals, leaving much of the population struggling to make ends meet.

Prior to his ousting, Assad's key ally Russia held a monopoly on printing banknotes. The new authorities have only announced once that they have received a shipment of banknotes from Moscow since Assad's overthrow.
In a country with about 1.25 million public sector employees, civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs to make withdrawals, capped at about 200,000 Syrian pounds, the equivalent on the black market of $20 per day.

In some cases, they have to take a day off just to wait for the cash.

"There are sick people, elderly... we can't continue like this," said Abu Fares.

'Meagre sums'
"There is a clear lack of cash, and for that reason we deactivate the ATMs at the end of the workday," an employee at a private bank told AFP, preferring not to give her name.

A haphazard queue of about 300 people stretches outside the Commercial Bank of Syria. Some are sitting on the ground.

Afraa Jumaa, a civil servant, said she spends most of the money she withdraws on the travel fare to get to and from the bank.

"The conditions are difficult and we need to withdraw our salaries as quickly as possible," said the 43-year-old.
"It's not acceptable that we have to spend days to withdraw meagre sums."

The local currency has plunged in value since the civil war erupted in 2011, prior to which the dollar was valued at 50 pounds.

Economist Georges Khouzam explained that foreign exchange vendors -- whose work was outlawed under Assad -- "deliberately reduced cash flows in Syrian pounds to provoke rapid fluctuations in the market and turn a profit".

Muntaha Abbas, a 37-year-old civil servant, had to return three times to withdraw her entire salary of 500,000 pounds.

"There are a lot of ATMs in Damascus, but very few of them work," she said.

After a five-hour wait, she was finally able to withdraw 200,000 pounds.

"Queues and more queues... our lives have become a series of queues," she lamented.