The Syrian Economy Has Collapsed

In addition to all of the fighting, Syria's economy is going up in flames. Photo by Reuters

In Syria, Blood Flows While Money Runs Dry -- Haaretz

From oil shortages to commodities inflation and climbing unemployment, the Syrian economy is essentially bankrupt. Will it change the course of fighting? Not any time soon.


These dire descriptions of the fuel crisis in Syria are flooding the Internet. They tell the real story behind the big numbers indicating a tremendous economic crisis there.

A line two kilometers long stretches from a gas station in a neighborhood of Damascus to the last car waiting to fill up. The driver at the end is dozing at the wheel while his family sleeps in the back. It may take a day to get to the pumps. And hence, his dilemma: lock the car and go home, leaving someone to guard it, and come back the next day, or stick out the wait and risk the pump running dry or look for a shorter line elsewhere.

A few hundred meters ahead of him, drivers push their car to the station to save gas. He doesn’t even know what the price of the gas will be once he reaches the pumps.

These dire descriptions of the fuel crisis in Syria are flooding the Internet. They tell the real story behind the big numbers indicating a tremendous economic crisis there.

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My Comment: As long as Russia and Iran continue to support him financially, Assad will have the money to pay his soldiers and officers to continue the fight. But this is also the reason why I know that Assad will ultimately lose. He has to pay his military for most of them to stay loyal to him .... most of the rebels on the other-hand are not fighting for money, they are fighting for a cause.