With arrival of Storm Lulu the Syrians in Damascus are warming with illusion and cover themselves with hope
Damascus – North-Press Agency
Jad Najjar
With the start of Storm Lulu and the days of Al-Marbaniyeh, Syrian citizens have become like escaping "from bad to worse." Especially since the weather forecasters described the cold in these days is only a "rehearsal" for the upcoming severe cold within a week from now. People also lost in the contradictory statements from those who are concerned, as the director of the Syrian Fuel said: "There is no crisis of fuel, but the great demand for fuel created a great problem and pressure, and because the citizens tended to secure gas instead of fuel, this also caused more pressure on gas!"
Thus, it remains for the Syrians only to be warm with delusion and promises every winter and with every statement instead of the concerned authorities that are described as having "positive intervention" and "rapid response" to provide the possibility of securing the fuel in the summer, for example, instead of waiting until the storms and bitter cold conditions fall upon people's heads and make them suffer. In addition to what the war and its dealers break of citizen's dignity.
Traders hypocrisy
Samer al-Rifai, a worker in a vegetable shop in a popular neighborhood in Damascus, said to North-Press: "The problem is that some of the disrespectful traders can provide the fuel and gas for people at double prices, asking that in public without feeling shame and in front of the supply.” He added: "Their pretext is that the price of the free gas tank (in the black market) is very high, reaching 10,000 S.P. per tank, meaning that they are paying double the price as a result of the economic blockade; they lie and want us to believe them.”
A mother collecting street cartons
Um-Hussein and her children and grandchildren suffer bad living conditions, in addition to being displaced from Albukamal area to the informal settlements area in Damascus, and pay around 40,000 Syrian pounds for housing leasement, they also suffer from the inability to buy fuel oil for heating, but they get by with what they can secure from firewood, sticks and cartons that they collect from a nearby park. Um-Hussain told North-Press: "I have a son, soldier in the army who has five children, he left them with me to take care of, and the second son works in a stall, and I am roaming the streets to collect cartons and wood for heating. This is our situation in every winter.”
Workers of the world, warm up!
Agricultural engineer Ahmed Mustafa is the one who was forced by the circumstances of the war to work in al-Hal Souq (Vegetable Market) instead of the possibility of establishing a decent life as he dreamed before the crisis, he told North-Press: "I suffer of harsh working conditions and by the workers in the market, in addition to the neglection of our rights, whether by the cargo owners and goods or by the municipalities that are responsible for securing a decent form of rooms and services." He continued: "With no heating method other than plastic boxes and wood tables that we share so that we can complete the rest of our day without diseases, in addition to joint pain and backache due to heavy loads."
He said with sense of humor: “We must raise the slogan: Workers of the world, warm up!” In a hint to the well-known global slogan: Workers of the world, unite!
“Which has not been achieved and we have not obtained anything that helps us in this miserable life!” He added.