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Bread Crisis in Syria a Sign of Economic Meltdown
(Washington Post) Sarah Dadouch - A rapidly growing number of Syrians are languishing for hours in line for subsidized bread, even as the amount most families can buy has been reduced by half or even more. Subsidized prices have doubled since October. Outside major cities, poor people in villages no longer have cooking gas; they use wood - and they make their own bread. During the past three years, Syria has imported millions of tons of wheat, mostly from Russia. But the spread of the coronavirus pushed Russia to limit wheat exports, cutting Syrian wheat imports nearly in half. Moreover, U.S. economic sanctions have hindered Syria's ability to import spare parts for machinery and pesticides, while hitting fuel imports hard, leading to long lines outside gas stations.