SUWAYDA, Syria (North Press) – For the past few days, Syrian government-held regions, including Suwayda governorate, have witnessed a worsening of the gasoline crisis, which caused heavy traffic jams in the gas stations.
The governorate of Suwayda, located in Syria’s south, is home to the country’s Druze minority, an ethnoreligious group which practices a monotheistic Abrahamic religion and speaks the Arabic language. Historically, the region has been mostly pro-government, even from the start of the country’s nine-year-crisis and civil war.
Basim al-Tawil, a taxi driver in Suwayda, looks for less crowded gas stations every day in order to have time to work and meet his family’s needs.
Overcrowding and Fighting
Al-Tawil and other drivers are often forced to wait in their vehicles for an entire day to get only 30 liters of gasoline, which forces some drivers to purchase it from the black market for up to 1,000 Syrian pounds per liter.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources issued a ministerial decree a few days ago reducing the amount of allocated gasoline for personal vehicles from 40 liters to 30 liters.
The Suwayda 24 Website reported that last Sunday, an argument started between two people queueing at al-Rai gas station in southern Suwayda. The argument took a dark turn when one of the instigators called an armed group, who fired on the queue, wounding three people. Later on, a group of armed individuals attacked and destroyed the gas station.
Loss of Confidence
Nayil Sharafeldin, an engineer from the city of Shahba, blamed the shortage of gasoline in gas stations and its availability on the roadside on high prices.
He said, “what upsets me most is the link between local vendors and owners of gas stations, with the support of government officials, who are beneficiaries from it in the city of Suwayda.”
Sharafeldin believes the gasoline crisis is systemic and created by government agencies, as the government has yet to declare the real reasons for the sudden shortage of gasoline.
Corruption and suspicious transactions in between gas station owners, corrupt ration committees, and government fuel committees have increased the tension among the citizens.
“The loss of confidence in the government’s policies is not something new; it dates back to five years ago,” he said.
Decreasing Allocations
Balan gas station, which is located at the northern entrance of the city of Suwayda, distributes gasoline allocations to vehicles under the observation of a ration oversight committee.
Ali Balan, the owner of the gas station, told North Press that the overcrowding these days is due to decreasing the amount of gasoline allocated to Suwayda governorate, which has been halved for unknown reasons.
He denied the accusations that he smuggles the gasoline to the black market, saying that there was no evidence of this.
Atif Hussein, vice-chair of the Fuel Committee in the governorate’s council, attributed the reason for congestion to the rumors among drivers that gasoline would be cut off, leading to panic and unwarranted overcrowding.
He added that there was some delay in sending quantities allocated to the governorate, but it was for technical reasons, and would return to normal in the coming days.

The normal allocated quantity of gasoline for Suwayda governorate is nine portable tanks a day with 40,000 liters for each, according to the Fuel Committee.
Hussein said that the amount is distributed according to population density in the governorate, and the shortage would be compensated for according to the Syrian Company for the Storage and Distribution of Petroleum Products (SADCOP).