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Criticism in Damascus over Government ‘Austerity’ Measures

Vehicles queue for petrol at a gas station in Damascus, Syria , February 19, 2017. Picture taken February 19, 2017. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
Vehicles queue for petrol at a gas station in Damascus, Syria , February 19, 2017. Picture taken February 19, 2017. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
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Criticism in Damascus over Government ‘Austerity’ Measures

Vehicles queue for petrol at a gas station in Damascus, Syria , February 19, 2017. Picture taken February 19, 2017. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
Vehicles queue for petrol at a gas station in Damascus, Syria , February 19, 2017. Picture taken February 19, 2017. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki

Syrians heave rushed to government subsidy centers in Damascus, after austerity measures were announced by the government amid a further decline in the value of the local currency.

Heating fuel, petrol and cooking gas have been in short supply over the past two years in regime-held areas, prompting the government to take a series of measures to limit consumption.

Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Ghanem banned cars with large engines from receiving subsidized petrol, in a new move that reflects Damascus’s need to cut down expenses and the consumption of oil derivatives.

Oil and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Ghanem said there would no longer be subsidized fuel for cars with engines larger than 2,000 cc as of Sunday.

Individuals or companies with more than one vehicle were also no longer allowed to benefit from the subsidies.

He stressed that the revenues will be used to invest in “service and development projects” that he didn’t specify.

Those included in the decision shall now buy fuel for their cars.

Before these measures, any vehicle owner was entitled to 100 liters of subsidized petrol per month.

With state help, a 20-liter tank refill used to cost SYP5,000 (around $7). Now those hit by the new rations will have to pay SYP9,000 (around $12) for the same volume.

The decision sparked criticism on social media.

Government officials have always blamed the fuel crisis on economic sanctions imposed by several Arab and Western countries, preventing oil tankers from arriving in the country.

US sanctions imposed on Tehran, Damascus' most prominent supporter, have exacerbated the fuel crisis in Syria.

Ghanem said Syria needs 146,000 barrels of crude oil per day, whereas it produces just 24,000.

It used to produce almost 400,000 barrels per day before civil war broke out in 2011. But nine years of conflict have ravaged production, and seen US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) seize control of the largest oil fields in the country.

Syria is in the grips of a severe economic crisis that has seen the value of the local currency plummet to record lows on the black market, and food prices double in a year, according to the World Food Program.

It noted that food prices increased by 107 percent in one year.

The rise in prices comes at a time when most Syrians live below the poverty line, according to the United Nations.

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Arab World

Houthi Network Recruits Hundreds of Yemenis to Fight in Ukraine

Honoring a Yemeni fighter in the ranks of the Russian forces (local media)
Honoring a Yemeni fighter in the ranks of the Russian forces (local media)
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Houthi Network Recruits Hundreds of Yemenis to Fight in Ukraine

Honoring a Yemeni fighter in the ranks of the Russian forces (local media)
Honoring a Yemeni fighter in the ranks of the Russian forces (local media)

In a nearly one-minute video, a young Yemeni man tells how he and his colleagues traveled to Russia on the promise of lucrative employment in fields such as “security” and “engineering”, but ended up fighting for Russia in Ukraine.
The young man, whose face was covered, expressed with his colleagues their desire to return to Yemen. They said they did not wish to suffer the same fate as their friends and get killed.
Last Sunday, The Financial Times said in a report that Russia’s armed forces have recruited hundreds of Yemeni men to fight in Ukraine, brought by a shadowy trafficking operation that highlights the growing links between Moscow and the Houthi militant group.
Later in video recordings, young Yemeni men spoke about the practice of Houthi smugglers who take advantage of the difficult economic conditions of Yemenis to recruit hundreds of them, and send them to fight alongside Russian troops.
The network of traffickers operate from Yemen and other Arab countries, and coordinate with others within Russian territory.
The Houthi network recruited hundreds of Yemenis and sent them to fight in Russia, according to sources close to their families and others in the Yemeni government.
In one of the videos, a group of Yemeni recruits said they worked in Oman, when a medical equipment company founded by a Houthi politician, Abdulwali Abdo Hassan al-Jabri, lured them by promises of lucrative employment in fields such as “security” and “engineering” in Russia.
They said they were promised a salary of $2,500 per month. But arriving in Moscow, they were received by a representative from the Russian Defense Ministry who told them they will work as security guards at Russian facilities.
Two days after their arrival, the recruits were sent to camps, where they trained for combat and received a salary of between $185 and $232 a month. They are now calling on the Yemeni government to intervene to return them to their country.
But another Yemeni, Ahmed, who is familiar with a group of recruits, explains that he and his friends had warned these young men not to go to Russia where they risk getting involved in the ongoing war.
The recruits told him that they could escape to Europe and seek asylum as hundreds of Yemenis did before.
However, after arriving with the help of a Houthi-linked medical company, many have apparently been coerced into the Russian military, forced to sign fighting contracts at gunpoint and sent to the front lines in Ukraine.
A member of the Yemeni community in Russia told Asharq Al-Awsat that smugglers are luring Yemeni young men to go to Russia to work for salaries of up to $2,500 per month and are then transferred to Arab capitals, including Muscat, Beirut and Damascus, to be then transferred to Russian territory.
After their arrival, he said, the recruits are taken to weapons training camps, allegedly as employees of a security company. But they are later sent to fight on the front lines with Ukraine along with mercenaries from other nationalities.
Activists and members of the Yemeni community in Russia estimate that there are about 300 young Yemenis who refuse to join the fighting in Ukraine and want to return to their country.
“Those men were tempted by the dire economic conditions in Yemen due to the ongoing war,” the activists said.
A Yemeni recruit of the shadowy trafficking operation said that Abdulwali Abdo Hassan al-Jabri, a prominent Houthi politician, is one of the main recruiters. He is assisted by his brother Abdul Waheed, who was appointed by the group as director of Al-Masrakh districts in Taiz Province.
The recruit said that the group of traffickers includes Hani al-Zarriqi, who has been living in Russia for years, and Mohammed al-Iyani, who lives in a Yemeni neighboring country.
Two relatives of the recruits accuse al-Jabri and his aides of arranging the transfer of the young men from Yemen to a neighboring country, and from there to Moscow, on the pretext of working for private security companies. The traffickers receive a commission of between $10 and $15 thousand per person.