The Eastern Ghouta: Where Animal Feed is Allowed but Bread Is Forbidden

(Eastern Ghouta, Syria) – The line of buses and cars waiting to enter East Ghouta at the Syrian Army’s Mleha checkpoint on the road to Damascus, one of just two that remain open, stretches back nearly a kilometre. It’s 3pm, and those at the back of the line can expect to wait three to five hours before they can proceed beyond the checkpoint.

The Syrian government’s soldiers at the checkpoint are searching for bread and other food items, which the military forbids civilians from taking into opposition-held areas beyond the checkpoint.

Some passengers try to hide small amounts of bread and vegetables in their possession, stuffing them under their seats, in ceiling cracks and under their clothes, as others point out the futility of their attempts. One passenger suggests that the most one can do is pray, or read passages from the Quran, hoping the directing officer will allow them to carry on with the food.

As time passes, the passengers begin to make chit chat, discussing the daily rise in the price of bread, the shelling, and the dead. When the bus finally reaches the checkpoint, all the passengers descend, and a soldier searches the empty bus. Then he stations himself by the door and checks the identification and personal belongings of each passenger before he or she climbs back onto the bus. The soldier is unmoved by the lengthy pleading of an old woman, who begs him to allow her to bring her bread with her on the bus. Eventually the bus carries on, leaving behind a pile of bread, vegetables and sugar on the ground. Those who refuse to part with their food return to Damascus.

This has become a daily routine for most residents of Eastern Ghouta, the area outside Damascus that is controlled by the rebels and was hit last month by a chemical strike.

Today, the population of Eastern Ghouta numbers around a million, after many more left or were displaced, according to local estimates.

In early June the regime introduced a new set of rules for anyone leaving or entering Ghouta. Vehicles were not allowed to enter with more than half a tank of fuel; no one was allowed to bring in more than 5 kilos of food, and food distributors are forbidden from entering at all. After two weeks, they stopped anyone carrying more than a kilogram of bread, and one kilo of one other food item. Soon only those carrying the family record issued by the government could bring in these items, and by the end of July all food was banned.

Aram, an aid activist working in Eastern Ghouta who didn’t want his full name printed, used to be able to bring food into the Ghouta cities of Douma and Arbeen by bribing soldiers at the checkpoints.  Bribes no longer work.

“We cannot bring in anything,” he told the Damascus Bureau. “We come with cash and buy food here at many times the price it is sold in Damascus, and some things, like flour and sugar, cannot be found at all.”

Aram believes the regime is imposing a blockade to try to weaken popular support for the Free Syrian Army.

Mahmoud, a member of the Local Council of Mleha, shared Aram’s opinion.

“The regime is fighting us using bread,” he said. “We found leaflets urging people to demonstrate against us.”

Mahmoud believes that once citizens started to demonstrate the government would allow food into Ghouta, in order to appear as a saviour.

“It’s as if we are the cause of the siege, and not the regime which is starving the people,” he added.

Hassan, a former architect from Damascus, now works as a smuggler, transporting aid into the area. He and a number of his friends carry bags of flour and baby formula, taking a dangerous road dotted with snipers and landmines.

“Not long ago 50 young men died trying to smuggle flour from Dmair to Maida’a, and we expect to meet the same fate if the blockade continues, but we cannot stand idly by while children need milk and medicine,” he said.

Such ad-hoc attempts by activists can only meet a fraction of the need, however. The situation is made worse by the fact that all electricity to the region has been cut, forcing the population to rely on petrol-powered generators as the price of fuel climbs to three times the cost in the city – when it can be found at all. This means the scarce amounts of food that do make it into the area cannot be preserved, compounding the scarcity.

Moreover, there are almost no jobs to be had in Eastern Ghouta, and the little commercial activity that continues does not bring in enough money to meet the rising cost of basic goods. As a result, many citizens have been pushed into deep poverty.

Mohammed, 14, fends for his family by selling juices near his home, bringing in about 300 Syrian Lira a day, which is around $1.25 USD.

“I cannot work in Damascus; I need to be here to keep my family safe,” he said. “My father died and my siblings are young.”

Mohammad says he’s lost about ten kilos since the start of the bread ban.

“If it wasn’t for some food aid we would be a lot skinnier,” he says sarcastically.

Abu Ahmad, who started working at a grocery after his furniture store was looted, said the blockade is a result of the rebels’ failure to “do their duties.” He accused the Free Syrian Army of starting the battle that has resulted in the complete siege of Ghouta.

In response to the government’s actions, the opposition-run local councils in Ghouta prohibited the export of meat and dairy products to Damascus just a few days before the start of Ramadan in July. They hoped that the price of meat would rise in the capital, and thus put pressure on the government. Farmers who raise livestock resented the council’s interference in their business and consider the councils’ actions unjust.

Mahmoud, the council member, defended the ban.

“Anyone who sells food to Damascus is complicit in the starvation of the people of Ghouta and guilty of handing over a source of leverage that could be used to force the regime to lift the siege,” he said.

A few days after the ban on meat exports to Damascus went into effect, the government responded by offering to allow animal feed to enter Ghouta if meat were allowed to leave.

Mahmoud said it was the local council’s duty today to “save the lives of those remaining” and that it was looking for alternatives to the scarce food items.

“We told the government to eat the feed themselves, if our lives meant so little to them, as we were made to understand by their proposal,” he said.

The Damascus Bureau was informed that the local councils reversed their decision in early September because of resentment among farmers and merchants. Local activists say that the ban on dairy and meat leaving Ghouta was difficult to apply because merchants bribed opposition fighters at checkpoints.