Citizens in Syria’s Hasakah suffer from lack of bread after US-backed SDF militia seized bakeries and mills

The problem of securing bread has exacerbated in the areas controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) separatist militia in the Syrian province of Hasakah after this militia captured the public mills and most of the private bakeries, causing a crisis due to the unavailability of daily bread supplies for locals.

The complaints of citizens in the SDF-held areas as a result of the lack of bread increased after their life has been turned into a nightmare because they have to buy more expensive  bread which  will add more financial burdens in the light of the current difficult circumstances.

Ahmad, a father of five children, told SANA that the bakery in the Ghuwairan neighborhood where he lives decreased its production dramatically after the militias forcibly seized it. 

 Khaled, a resident in the Al-Nashwa neighborhood, said that most of the private bakeries were closed as they haven’t been supplied with flour after the SDF militia seized the mills, which caused a great shortage of bread and created a black market to blackmail citizens.

Nuha, a resident of Khashman neighborhood, said that the locals used to get state subsidized bread easily before the SDF militia seized bread production institutions with the aim of depriving the citizens from the simplest elements of life. She called for restoring all the service facilities, including the bakeries and mills, to the state as soon as possible in order to ease the suffering of the locals.

Fadel, a man in his sixties, said that he has to walk a long distance to reach the Al-Hasaka Al-Awwal bakery, that belongs to Hasaka branch of the General Company of Bakeries, because of the decline in the production of the bakery of Al-Salhiya neighborhood where he lives and the closure of most of the bakeries in this area.

On his part, Member of the Executive Bureau of Internal Trade Satm Al-Hweidi said that seizing the public and private bakeries by the SDF militia led to their closure after flour supplies have stopped, causing a sharp crisis.

He pointed out that the three state-run bakeries (Al-Hasaka Al-Awwal, Al-Bath and Hamou) in the cities of Hasakah and Qamishli continue to work around the clock to secure the citizens’ need of bread in the areas under the state control.

Hamda Mustafa