Hiba Muhammed, Baladi News, Damascus
Many Syrian activists agreed altogether that Eid al-Fitr (Festival of breaking the fast) for this year is the worst ever among the festivals experienced by Syrians since 2011; skyrocketing prices, merchants' monopoly, collapse of the Syrian Pound, business breakdown, coercive arrests, compulsory recruitment, and sectarian militias all pushed the residents to walk in the darkness fearing being killed.
Muhammed Abu Kassem, the Damascene media activist said in an interview with Baladi News: "Perhaps this year's festival is the most difficult in the modern history of Syria, as in Al-Midan and its surrounding neighborhoods we see the manifestations of Eid and greeting exchange between parents, brothers and friends."
"As soon as the doors of the houses shut, the agony of each family starts; little children who can't distinguish between war and peace and don't understand the language of stock market and the pound's collapse against the foreign currency. They only care about having a new t-shirt and shoes", he added.
Abu Al-Kassem went on saying: "the prices doubled ahead of the festival more than ever and the merchants' greed is unlimited because the Syrian government is suppressing the residents and turning a blind eye to the merchant's work as they are benefiting it as well".
Children's clothing, for example, the price of a dress or baby kit for a newborn reached 7500 SYP , whereas the kit or the dress for children begins with 10,000 and even 15,000 SYP , while children's shoes range between 5000 and 8000 SYP ; jeans between 4000-7000 SYP with the difference of brands, while foreign brands begin with 10 thousand pounds and reach more than 150 thousand pounds for one piece, according to the activist.
These prices reveal that the clothes for a 10-year-old child may be one and half double of the monthly salary and that a large number of families are reluctant to buy clothes for their children as they are unable to afford clothing for more than one child, let alone the families that have more than 3 children!
As for the prices of Eid's sweets, Abu Al-Kassem said: "the prices are still ranging from 3000 SYP for normal sweets and reach 11000 SYP for high quality sweets.
A large number of Syrian families stand powerless today in front of sweets' shops amidst Damascus, unable to buy even the cheapest type, but other groups of thugs or those close to the regime are buying large quantities at high cost, paying no heed for the feelings of the poor.