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Qalamoun Residents Urge Authorities to Provide Subsidised Diesel Ahead of Winter
As winter approaches, residents of the Qalamoun region in Rural Damascus Governorate are facing growing difficulties securing heating fuel. The price of a barrel of diesel has climbed to around $270, amid harsh living conditions and declining purchasing power for many residents.
Residents have appealed to the Rural Damascus Governorate to intervene urgently and make diesel available at subsidised prices that reflect families’ economic circumstances. Qalamoun is among Syria’s coldest regions, where winter begins earlier and lasts longer than in many other areas.
Residents said current prices are beyond the means of many families, raising fears that they will be unable to obtain enough fuel during the cold months. The region’s severe climate makes going without heating particularly difficult.
Calls are growing for practical measures to ease the burden on residents and ensure fuel is available at prices in line with their incomes. Residents warn that if prices continue to rise, many families could face a harsh winter without adequate heating.
The appeals highlight a recurring hardship each winter and the challenges low-income families face as heating costs soar. They also raise concerns about how these households can withstand the cold without assistance to ensure access to essential heating at affordable prices.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said providing fuel and heating supplies at prices compatible with people’s purchasing power—particularly in areas with harsh climatic conditions—is an urgent humanitarian and livelihood necessity. It called on the relevant authorities to implement practical, sustainable solutions so that low-income families are not left to face the cold without the means to meet their most basic needs. Heating, it stressed, is a basic right, not a luxury.
