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Issue 1797- April - 24/04/2020
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War-Weary Syrians Brace for Disaster as They Face a New Kind of Enemy Taking Precautions Against Coronavirus is Impossible for Many in Syria
by Yasmine El-Geressi
After nearly a decade of war that has demolished health care systems, driven up to 70 per cent of medical staff out of the country and left behind a practically non-existent institutional capacity to provide necessary medical care, millions of war-weary Syrians are bracing themselves for disaster as they face a new kind of enemy. Coronavirus was first officially announced in Syria on March 22 and on March 29, the country recorded its first Covid-19 death. At the time of writing, there were only officially 3 recorded coronavirus deaths, but the United Nations has described these initial figures as the “tip of the iceberg” and the true number is believed to be much higher.
Living conditions for millions is further deteriorating and finding refuge is a daily struggle. Keeping a physical distance and washing hands regularly with soap and water are simply not possible.
Syrian children watch a member of the Syrian civil defence, known as the White Helmets, disinfecting a former school building currently inhabited by displaced families in the rebel-held town of Binnish in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, on March ,26 2020. (Getty)
all non-essential business, halt public transport, impose curfews and limit travel between the regions under his control. With the help of the World Health Organization, it also has set up quarantine zones in areas under government control.
However, the economically crippled regime has stopped short of giving the financial support needed to keep the economy going and provide for Syria’s poor. According to a United Nations report from 2019, 83 percent of people across both government and rebel parts of the country were already living in poverty, with at least 11 million people in need humanitarian assistance to survive and almost eight million who do not have reliable access to food. Syrians must already stand in long queues to purchase bread and other daily necessities as even subsidised bread is sometimes unavailable as Damascus runs out of flour and wheat reserves, relying on its Russian allies for emergency shipments.
a major outbreak because of a fragile health system, dire state of infrastructure, lack of sufficient equipment to detect the virus and large numbers of vulnerable people, alongside the collapse of what is left of Syria’s economy.
A CRIPPLED ECONOMY
Since January the value of the Syrian pound – last year trading at 500 to the dollar – has dropped off a cliff, reaching a record low of 1,360 to the dollar on the black market in late March. As a result, inflation and the cost of basic goods are soaring.
As the U.S, France, China and many other developed economies are have shown, containing a health crisis is an arduous process under the best of circumstances, and comes with remarkable economic costs. With its economy already in ruin, Syria isn’t in a position to deal with the financial fallout from the coronavirus.
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A HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN PIECES
The Covid-19 pandemic risks leaving even the most advanced and well-funded healthcare systems teetering on the edge of collapse. In Syria, where there’s not much health care infrastructure left to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, the prospects are grim.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) say that since the start of the 2011 civil war, there have been at least 595 documented attacks on over 300 hospitals across the country, with 85 health facilities attacked in the north of the country just last year alone, mostly perpetrated by the Syrian government and its allies Russia and Iran. Much of that destruction has not been repaired, particularly in former opposition strongholds. According to the World Health Organization, only 64 percent of public hospitals are fully functioning and there is a considerable shortage of trained staff.
In the Idlib, the last opposition-held area in the Northwest, where fighting recently led to the largest displacement of civilians of the entire war, there are just 105 ICU beds and 30 adult ventilators for a population of 1.5 million. This specialist equipment is needed to support patients with respiratory problems like those
caused by the virus but nearly all are already in use. “If we face this situation here, I think it will be endless,” Mohamed Twaish, a field coordinator for Relief Experts Association, a humanitarian organization working in Idlib province, told Vox.
It would be a disaster if the coronavirus pandemic reached Idlib, says Misty Buswell, a spokeswoman for the International Rescue Committee (IRC). “An outbreak would be devastating for thousands whose health status is already compromised due to lack of sufficient food, clean water and exposure to cold weather,” she told the AFP news agency.
Children wear masks as a preventive measure against coronavirus (Covid19-) as Idlib Health Directorate and Civil Defense Crews along with local charities carry out disinfection works at schools and tent cities in Idlib, Syria on March 2020 ,18. (Getty)
ulation, according to the Financial Times.
SOCIAL DISTANCING NOT AN OPTION
There are six million internally displaced people in Syria who fled the frontlines and are now living in crammed displacement camps or temporary housing, making preventative measures like social distancing, lockdowns and the tracing of the virus transmission impossible.
as personal protection equipment and soap bars are being distributed across Syria, while the World Health Organization (WHO) is training medical staff and preparing laboratories to carry out coronavirus tests, with testing due to begin soon. “This is an important first step towards the Ministry of Health achieving their goal of a working laboratory in each of Syria’s 14 governorates,” said Imran Riza, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria. Last month 39 aid organisations asked the WHO for more support, questioning the transparency of the government’s reporting on the extent of coronavirus in Syria and warning of potentially “horrific repercussions” for the popIdlib has suffered some of the worst violence in the nine-year war, with nearly 1 million people fleeing their houses and villages in the province since the government’s military offensive began in December 2019, most of them women and children. The province has also absorbed people displaced from other parts of Syria. Living conditions for millions is further deteriorating and finding refuge is a daily struggle. Often, 10 people share a small tent, sleeping, eating and living in close proximity. Some have even been forced to live in graveyards. Keeping a physical distance and washing hands regularly with soap and water are simply not possible. “How can I tell these people to keep their distance? These people barely have access to clean water, there are few toilets for far too many people and there are no masks, no gloves, Huda Khayti, director of the Women Support and Empowerment Center Idlib and head of an awareness campaign on COVID-19 told DW.
Coronavirus Could Offer Avenue to Ease US-Turkey Tensions In its Bid for Closer Ties with Washington, Ankara Seeks to Secure Economic Aid in Exchange for Delaying S400- Activation
US President Donald Trump greets Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an(L) upon arrival outside the White House in Washington, DC on November 2019 ,13. (Getty)
by Joseph Braude An unanticipated side effect of the coronavirus pandemic has been the upending of traditional regional dynamics in favor of new, ad hoc coalitions to contain the effects of the virus. One particularly salient example is Washington’s relationship with Ankara, characterized by both chronic and deep strains in the Erdogan era. TURKEY SEEKS DETENTE WITH WASHINGTON Earlier this year, Turkish officials expressed optimism that Turkey would weather the coronavirus pandemic with only minimal damage to its population and economy. Just over a month ago, Turkish ministers remained in denial that the virus had even entered Turkey. But over the next several weeks, the virus spread rapidly to over 80,000, the highest of any Middle Eastern country after Iran. In this new, starker environment, President Erdogan has extended an olive branch to his critics in Washington, announcing a new understanding with U.S. President Donald Trump to work together to counter the threat posed by the coronavirus outbreak. The heart of this new entente, it has emerged, is Ankara’s attempt to secure economic aid in exchange for dropping plans to immediately activate a Russian air defense system that had been a sticking point between the two governments. The pandemic has arrived at a particularly difficult time for Erdogan. Turkey has only recently emerged from recession, and several of its economic indicators are fragile. The Turkish currency has fallen 14 percent against the dollar over the past year, and many of Turkey’s financial institutions are heavily overleveraged. Ankara appears unprepared for the inevitable economic slowdown. As a consequence of the weakened economy, Ankara was unable to provide more than a relatively modest $15 billion stimulus plan on March 18 — a plan that, even on a per capita basis, is dwarfed by the stimulus packages recently unveiled in the U.S., Germany, and Brazil. A STICKING POINT DEFERRED In his bid for closer ties with the U.S., Erdogan has had one major concession to offer: deferring the activation of the Russian S-400 air defense system. According to a senior Turkish official who spoke on condition of anonymity, “There is no going back on the decision to activate the S-400s [but] due to COVID-19 ... the plan for them to be ready in April will be delayed.” The delay in operationalizing the Russian system could drag on for several months, or indefinitely, the official said, adding that Turkey had in any case to overcome numerous technical difficulties. NATO and the U.S. have long maintained steadfast opposition to Turkey’s acquisition of the Russian air defense system, even raising the specter of sanctions on Turkey if Ankara should move forward over American objections. Both sides had been on a trajectory toward an inexorable confrontation in April, when President Erdogan had announced that the S-400 would be activated. Other sources have confirmed that economic calculations are decisive in Ankara’s thinking. As Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat, who heads the Istanbul-based Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies think tank, put it, “The economic shock is such that Turkey may indeed down the line seek some kind of external financing.” Ulgen went on to add, “If and when that time comes there will be more pressure on the Turkish government to permanently sideline the S400s.” In recent days, Turkish officials acknowledged that Ankara has reached out to contacts within the American administration to explore the possibility of setting up a swap line from the U.S. Federal Reserve as well as other funding options to mitigate the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. President Erdogan is reportedly keen to secure funding from the U.S. central bank if that would enable him to avoid pursuing a loan from the IMF, given the ostensibly negative domestic perceptions of working with the Fund. President Erdogan is reportedly keen to secure funding from the U.S. central bank if that would enable him to avoid pursuing a loan from the IMF, given the ostensibly negative domestic perceptions of working with the Fund.
