Damascus- The cost of land commercial shipping between Lebanon and areas controlled by the Syrian regime increased by 40% during the past week, after the international road between the two countries was cut off following the Israeli bombing that targeted the vicinity of the Masnaa crossing on the fourth of this October.
The head of the Federation of Goods Shipping Companies in Syria, Saleh Kishore, told local media on Thursday that the increase in shipping costs came against the backdrop of truck drivers changing the route of their journey from the Masnaa crossing to the Dabousiyya and Arida crossings, which are about 400 kilometers away from Damascus, which is equivalent to about 4 times the distance. What trucks need to reach Damascus city center from the Masnaa crossing.
This caused a disturbance in the import and export movement between the two countries, which led to a wave of high prices that hit the markets of Damascus, its countryside, and some areas under regime control, amid an economic crisis taking place in the country, and a living reality that is the most miserable in 12 years, according to observers.
Additional obstacles
The obstacles faced by truck drivers, and behind them shipping and commercial transport companies, were not limited to changing the route of trips and the increase in the cost of shipping in terms of fuel and labor wages. Rather, other obstacles were added to them as they changed the route of trips to the Al-Dabusiyah crossings in Homs and Al-Arida crossings in Tartous, which were… The most prominent of which is the increase in the number of regime military checkpoints through which trucks pass on their way to Damascus, which has increased “the number of royalties that truck drivers are forced to pay to these checkpoints, in exchange for their trucks passing without a photo inspection that disrupts the trip for hours,” according to Simon. N. (37 years old), a freight truck driver on the Damascus-Beirut line.
Simon added. In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, “The Baghdad checkpoint alone on the Homs-Damascus road may cost crossing 50,000 Syrian pounds ($3.5) or more per car, if invoices for the goods are available. However, if invoices are not available, you may have to pay an amount of up to two million.” Lira ($135) for transit.”
In addition to the checkpoint royalties, there is an obstacle to securing fuel for freight vehicles from the black market, as the government allocations of diesel for commercial trucks do not cover their entire requirements of the material, so truck drivers resort to filling the remaining supplies of the material from the black market at very high prices.
Since the start of the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, the price of a liter of free diesel has ranged throughout regime-controlled areas between 16 and 18 thousand liras ($1.1-1.3) instead of 12 thousand ($0.8), and in return its price has increased in the official (government-subsidized) market. To 5 thousand ($0.36) instead of two thousand liras ($0.14).
The factory is considered the main crossing between the two countries, and before the Israeli aggression on its surroundings, it witnessed the crossing of 30 to 40 commercial transport trucks daily, while its departure from service led to a major stagnation in the import and export movement between Syria and Lebanon, as indicated by the head of the Union of Shipping Companies. goods in Syria, speaking to local media.
High prices of food commodities
The Masnaa crossing being out of service, the high cost of shipping, the decline in fuel smuggling from Lebanon to Syria, and the rise in its prices on the black market had repercussions on the prices of most goods and services in regime-controlled areas, which witnessed a sudden increase during the past week.
Al Jazeera Net – in its tour of the markets of Damascus and its countryside – observed an increase in the prices of some food and consumer goods and services by a rate ranging between 15% and 30% within a week, as:
- The price of vegetable oil jumped to 30,000 liras ($2) compared to 22,000 ($1.5) last month.
- The price of a kilo of vegetable ghee rose to 40,000 liras ($2.7) instead of 30,000 ($2).
- A kilo of green apples increased to 15,000 liras ($0.73) instead of 10,000 ($0.73).
Internal shipping fees between governorates recorded a noticeable increase, for example the Lattakia/Damascus truck fare rising to 13 million liras ($885) instead of 10 million ($680) last month.
The regime’s Consumer Protection Association acknowledged that prices had risen by 15% in the markets since the Israeli aggression on the Masnaa crossing, according to a report in the local newspaper Al-Watan a few days ago.
Hossam says: Z (30 years old), a lawyer in Damascus, commented on the rise in prices to Al Jazeera Net, “It was surprising. We slept on prices and became on others, and we were shocked by the rise in the prices of most goods, including vegetables and fruits, diapers, baby milk, and foreign smoke, and the price of a package of milk reached For my son, who is one year and 4 months old, it costs 125,000 liras ($8.5), while last week its price did not exceed 100,000 ($6.8).”
For his part, Yasser Akreem, a member of the Damascus Chamber of Commerce, in an interview with the official Al-Baath newspaper, attributed the high prices of some locally-made goods in Syria to the fact that they depend in their manufacture on raw materials imported from Lebanon.
Fuel scarcity crisis
The wave of high prices in the markets of regime-controlled areas is accompanied by a worsening fuel scarcity crisis that has paralyzed public transportation and doubled the costs and wages of private transportation, in addition to a new housing crisis against the backdrop of the significant increase witnessed in apartment rental fees, coinciding with the displacement of thousands of Lebanese and Syrian families to those areas. The regions after the recent Israeli escalation in Lebanon.
(Factory)… Arterial interruption
(The factory) is the main crossing between Syria and Lebanon, and is about 40 kilometers from Damascus, and about 100 kilometers from the Lebanese capital, Beirut. During the years of armed conflict in the country, after 2012, it represented one of the main arteries of Damascus, with most of the land crossings out of the control of the Syrian regime. .
Shipments of raw materials for a number of basic pharmaceutical and food industries arrive through the crossing, in addition to some foreign goods such as medicines, baby milk, rice, various foodstuffs, and types of vegetables and fruits, and it is used to smuggle quantities of gasoline to Damascus.
Two weeks ago, the Israeli bombing on the perimeter of the crossing created a hole with a diameter of 4 meters on the international road between the two countries, which led to the disruption of the active import and export movement through it.
The Israeli army spokesman said at the time that the bombing targeted “infrastructure in the vicinity of the Masnaa crossing, which was used to transfer weapons to Hezbollah groups.”
Major crossings
In addition to the Masnaa crossing, there are 5 official crossings linking the two countries by land, as follows:
- Al-Dabusiya Bridge CrossingIt connects the villages of Al-Aboudiyah in Lebanon and Al-Dabusiyah in Homs, Syria.
- Al-Jawsiya crossing: Between the Qusayr area in the Homs countryside and the northern Lebanese Bekaa.
- Tal Kalakh crossing: Between Tal Kalakh in Homs and Wadi Khaled in the Lebanese district of Akkar.
- Singing crossingIt links Homs and Lebanon, and Israel targeted it with raids on the Syrian side at the General Security Center last September.
- Arida crossing: It connects Lebanon to the coastal Syrian governorate of Tartous.
- Irregular crossingsThe border between the two countries is long, and human, food, and fuel smuggling operations are active there.
