Spiking fuel costs add to burden as Syrians try to rebuild, sparking protests

After conquering a country in ruins and containing sectarian strife, Syria’s postrevolutionary government is facing its most serious crisis yet – at the pumps.Energy prices that have spiked because of the Iran war forced the interim government this month to raise fuel prices by 26% and diesel by 40%, sparking nationwide protests that echo others around the world.The unrest has upset a string of recent government successes, including Washington’s lifting of the last sanctions on the country in August and the official reintegration of the breakaway Kurdish northeast. The crisis has put a spotlight on the core struggle facing cash-strapped Damascus: opening up a long-closed economy while also protecting the most vulnerable Syrians, 90% of whom live under the poverty line and subsist on less than $2 per day.The recent rise in fuel and diesel prices adds to Syrians’ economic woes: a 13% hike in electricity prices this year and inflation caused by fluctuations in Syria’s currency. The government is attempting to improve shattered services and open up an economy closed by the corrupt Assad regime, which ran the economy with an iron fist and embezzled billions for the Assad clan and their allies.“What’s the point of having 24 hours of electricity if you can’t afford to keep the lights on?” says Mohammed Omar, a self-described supporter of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa who says he is “souring” on the government. “What type of path are we on if prices are rising but Syria is not rebuilding?” Taylor LuckAhmed al-Ahmed fills up his taxi at a gas station at the edge of Damascus, Syria, Sept. 22, 2026. Mr. Ahmed says Syrians cannot afford a 40% hike in diesel and that, should the government be unable to lower prices in 60 days, “it will be a catastrophe.” The fuel price hike prompted a series of protests stretching from Idlib – the interim government’s base – to Aleppo and Damascus. Although the protests petered out as of late last week, frustrations remain. Within weeks, the prices of goods – everything from vegetables to cement – have risen between 10% and 30%. One man recounts hitchhiking four miles a day to a bakery to save 20 cents on a bag of bread for his family.“With fares going up, very few people can afford taking a taxi anymore. I can’t find passengers,” says taxi driver Ahmed al-Ahmed as he fills up at a gas station on the outskirts of the capital.Questions in ParliamentEnergy Minister Mohammed al-Bashir faced a grilling in Parliament last week, the second such questioning of a senior official by the 11-week-old body. In response, he stressed that the dramatic price hike was “temporary” and due largely to the regional crisis.In the televised session, Mr. Bashir pointed out that the government spends $831 million a month to purchase crude oil and petroleum products, and is currently struggling to secure the necessary foreign currency. The ministry has offered limited subsidized fuel for heating and farming for select consumers.Worsening the crisis, the country’s largest oil refinery in Baniyas has been taken offline for two months, to raise its capacity to 130,000 barrels per day from 80,000 previously.Demand for fuel has spiked with hundreds of thousands of Syrians returning home since President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster in December 2024 and a 44% increase in the number of cars on the road, from 2.5 million to 3.6 million, according to the minister. Moawia Atrash/picture-alliance/dpa/APIraqi tanker trucks load gasoline at the Baniyas oil terminal in Syria's Tartus province, Sept. 27, 2026. The fuel is being transported to Iraq via Syria for the first time amid disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Mr. Bashir said the country aims to achieve fuel self-sufficiency by 2028 by rehabilitating oil and gas fields and rebuilding a gas pipeline connecting Syria to Jordan and Egypt. The minister’s statements seemed to hold off popular anger, for now.In interviews, Syrians interpreted the minister’s answers to mean prices will return to normal in two months after the refinery is repaired.“The wise leadership here has said that prices will go down after two months,” says Mr. Ahmed, the Damascus taxi driver. “But if prices don’t go down then, it will be a catastrophe. We can’t handle much more of this.”Loujain, a dermatology student at Damascus University who did not wish to share her last name, citing familial pressures, says the 25% jump in bus fares to her hometown of Hama means she is going home less.“I think twice before going out,” she says. Khaled Sheikh Nour, who works at a bus company ferrying passengers from Damascus to the northeast town of Hassakeh, says the number of customers on his 500-mile route is dwindling, but he holds out hope that a drop in fuel prices will restore business.“The government has to receive the message that people don’t have any means,” he says. “The fuel prices are out reach. People can’t take much more.” Firas Makdesi/ReutersA man fills his truck with fuel following a recent increase in fuel prices that sparked protests in several cities across Syria, in Damascus, Sept.14, 2026. Call for a safety netThe fuel crisis has laid bare the paradox of Syria’s recovery: Services are rapidly improving just as they are becoming out of reach for average Syrians.Electricity is now available up to 20 hours per day, Damascus and other cities are lit up at night, garbage is being collected, and water supplies are returning to neighborhoods on a weekly basis.Mohammed Ghazal, an economist and adviser to the Central Bank of Syria, lauds the government’s commitment to pursuing its economic program to open the country and spur growth while refusing to govern “by the mood in the street.”Yet the government must get creative, he says, to deploy targeted subsidies or social safety nets to buffer the near-term hit for vulnerable Syrians.“A free-market economy will have negative side effects on the most vulnerable segments of society in the near-term,” Mr. Ghazal notes. “That is why, in my view, there must also be a social protection program for this segment to protect them from rising prices and fees. We must balance strategic needs with social support while avoiding the corrupt subsidies of the past.” “We understand that the cause of the fuel prices is a global crisis that is not caused by the government,” says Mr. Omar, the disillusioned Sharaa supporter. But the government “has taken several steps to open up the economy and make deals without thinking of the wider impacts of everyday people.” Deepen your worldviewwith Monitor Highlights.Politics with respectGet political stories with respectful analysis.There‘s a world of new ideas in everyBooks newsletter.There‘s more to life, enrich yours withCulture & Learning weekly.Follow humanity‘s discoveries withScience & Nature stories in your inbox.Gain a spiritual perspectivefrom the stories in your inbox.Want to understand the deeper impact of critical events? Learn the Monitor‘s insight.Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads. “People are patient for now, but what happens when winter comes, the Iran war is ongoing, and we can’t afford to keep warm? What will calm people’s anger then?”Walaa Buaidani in Damascus supported reporting for this article. ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER? LoginReal news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.The Christian Science Monitor was founded in 1908 to lift the standard of journalism and uplift humanity. We aim to “speak the truth in love.” Our goal is not to tell you what to think, but to give you the essential knowledge and understanding to come to your own intelligent conclusions. Join us in this mission by subscribing.