This photo, shared online by pro-Syrian regime accounts on September 11, 2020, shows long car convoys in front of a fuel station in Homs city to obtain benzene by smart card, which was launched by Syrian government under the pretext of enabling citizens to purchase benzene in an organized and planned manner at state-subsidized prices.
SNHR notes that the fuel stations have witnessed unprecedented car crowding since the beginning of September. The Syrian Company for Storage and Distribution of Petroleum Products” the fuel” announced on September 4, 2020, that class of people who had had 100 liters with an average of 40 liters with supported price every five days will have the same quantity with an average of 30 liters every four days, knowing that the supported price of one liter is 250 Syrian pounds (approximately US $ .11) while the unsupported price of the same quantity is 450 Syrian pounds (approximately US $ .2)
SNHR believes that the Syrian regime is behaving in this fashion in an effort to mislead the public and to win over international opinion in order to shift blame from itself for the self-inflicted crisis it’s suffering from that resulted from its own disastrous policies in leading the Syrian state, more particularly during the last ten years, during which it caused the displacement of 13 million Syrian citizens, killed more than a quarter of a million civilians, and committed multiple crimes against humanity.
In reality, the ruling regime will remain wholly indifferent to the suffering of the Syrian people whatever it reaches. The international community must reduce the duration of this suffering by accompanying the existing economic sanctions with additional deterrent measures that include putting pressure on the Syrian regime and its allies to abide by United Nations resolutions, and to achieve a political transition according to a strict timetable that will not to exceed six months.
