Flour shipment arrives in Syria’s Suwayda amid ongoing bread crisis
SUWAYDA, Syria (North Press) – A shipment of around 200 tons of flour arrived on Saturday in Suwayda Governorate, southern Syria, and was distributed to public and private bakeries after a four-day halt in their operations, which caused a severe bread shortage.
Local sources told North Press that the shipment, totaling about 200 tons, was delivered through contributions from local associations, international organizations, and donations from expatriates from the governorate in an effort to ease residents’ suffering.
The sources added that the supplied quantity is sufficient to operate bakeries for only two days, as the flour crisis continues in Suwayda following recent unrest in the region.
On Sep. 26, Mustafa Bakour, Governor of Suwayda, said that the ongoing flour shortage in the governorate is “fabricated to cover up other issues,” dismissing local concerns about government negligence.
Bakour told reporters that the government’s “only condition for allowing food supplies into Suwayda is that there be no monopolization or price manipulation,” adding that “merchants and commercial convoys are free to bring flour into the governorate.”
Suwayda, a Druze-majority Governorate, has been facing a severe flour and bread crisis for weeks due to disrupted supply routes, delayed government shipments, and a lack of local administrative coordination.
Many bakeries have shut down, leading to widespread bread shortages across the governorate. Residents accuse Damascus of imposing an undeclared blockade, while officials blame logistical issues.
Reporting by Haroun al-Arbid