On the seventh of June this year, demonstrations erupted in Syrian areas under the control of the regime, including the Druze-majority Druze governorate, in protest against the deteriorating living conditions, which was further compounded by the collapse of the lira, and to demand the fall of the regime's head, Bashar al-Assad.

The French "Media Part" website - in a special report - met with some activists inside Syria at the end of February, before the Corona infection escalated and the borders were closed, stressing that the signs of popular anger and the explosion of the situation were evident since then.

According to Media Part, the endosperm - from which the demonstrations were launched before its enemy moved to other regions - since 2011 have witnessed several popular demonstrations, but the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, which depicts himself as a "protector of minorities", did not suppress it with blood.

During the recent protests, slogans calling for Assad to step down were raised, denouncing the Russian and Iranian presence inside a country suffering from a severe economic crisis, as the prices of food and fuel increased steadily, and the severity of the crisis was compounded by the repercussions of the Corona pandemic and the neighboring Lebanon going through similar economic hardship.

Historic decline

The value of the Syrian currency tumbled in early June to about 1,500 pounds against the dollar, before witnessing a historical decline that reached more than 2500 pounds per dollar.

In a desperate attempt to contain the factors of the explosion, Media Part spoke of the Syrian regime closing the accounts of thousands of Syrian activists and media outlets on social media during the past two months, claiming "inciting violence."

One of those who spoke to the site - who declined to give their identity for security reasons - says in Damascus, "We have no fuel, no electricity, no gas ... We suffer from a severe shortage of basic materials, and the prices have multiplied 10 times ... The crisis in Lebanon also affects us directly and affects The flow of humanitarian aid. "

"Because of Corona, the war, and the price of the lira are falling, there is little commercial movement ... everyone is stopping ... and if we talked via WhatsApp about an alternative currency or we used it, we are threatened with imprisonment for 7 years with hard labor since the issuance of a new decree of the president."

The spokesman refers to a decree adopted by President Bashar al-Assad in mid-January, which imposes sanctions on any citizen who uses a foreign currency, on the pretext of "protecting the national currency."

The people die

Another spokesman in a Damascus neighborhood said, "The situation deteriorated at the beginning of this year ... We no longer have any food to eat or electricity, and we can no longer reach a treatment if we fall ill, and the clashes continue ... We have not seen such a situation since the beginning of the war ... We are suffering Children cannot study, and there is the blockade ... the people are the ones who suffer and die, not the president. "

According to the French website, speculators who sell fuel distributed by the state benefit from deteriorating living conditions, and the deterioration of the situation has exacerbated social inequalities, as the United Nations has confirmed that 11 million Syrians are "constantly increasing their need", affected by this crisis.

An activist asserts that what has worsened the situation is "the seizure of humanitarian aid provided by the United Nations and other organizations, by NGOs loyal to Assad and charged with distributing them."

"Sometimes this aid ends up being sold on store shelves bearing the United Nations emblem, and Iran and Russia take over a large portion of these resources," he says.

With the outbreak of Corona's infection, the United Nations spoke of a "inhumane situation" in which the Syrians live, where another activist in the regime's control areas asserts for "Media Part" that "80% of the Syrian population lives under the poverty line, hungry and sick ... There is a noticeable increase in deaths Due to cancer and heart attacks due to stress and psychological trauma. "

"Millions of internally displaced people are homeless and suffer the coldness and the regime's bombs."

Eastern Ghouta residents complained that food aid had not reached them (Reuters)

A tragic scene

In the eastern Ghouta, which turned into a rubble field, after it was one of the last strongholds that have withstood the regime’s strikes, the scene remains more tragic.

A resident of the area assures the site that "thousands of civilians were killed by the barrel of the regime ... After the civilians who fled the area during the war decided to return to their homes, no relief organization came to us anymore.

In the old industrial city still under military control, only a few destroyed towers were left surrounding an arid and muddy land, which turned into a "mass grave of hundreds of bodies buried underground," according to testimonies of civilians in the area.

Nearly half of the residents tried to return to their city, which was destroyed by the Syrian regime, and one of the neighborhood residents painfully asserts that "the conditions are difficult and the memories are painful .. we saw our families burning in factory kilns, and women were raped ... the arrival of terrorists led to massacres of all sects ... 200 people On the first day only. "

"The survivors are still suffering from a severe shock, and the system does not allow them to provide humanitarian aid ... More than a year ago, there was only very limited food aid that came from the Red Crescent."