In a continuation of the practice of cronyism which helped spark the revolution in 2011, many favored businessmen in Aleppo are still enjoying support by Assad’s regime.
In addition, thousands of Assad thugs have also amassed fortunes, either through stealing, kidnapping, or trading in the files of detainees.
Living conditions are so difficult for average Syrians nowadays that even the Assad regime’s official media has confirmed that a family of five needs an average of 500 USD per month just to survive − which falls far short of the average monthly government wage.
Currently the value of one US dollar has reached 550 Syrian pounds, an extraordinary and extremely huge amount of money for the people whose incomes are so limited.
Residents have told Orient Net that the prices of common everyday necessities are high like a fashion street in Paris, but the quality of life is like desert or nomadic life.
This is how life in Aleppo is described by those who live there.
Abdulkareem, a Syrian resident in Aleppo, struggles to continue from month to month without incurring debts due to the huge increases in house rents as well as in groceries and transportation.
As for salaries, Najlaa from the al- Seryan neighborhood, who continues to receive a monthly teacher’s stipend from the Assad government, told Orient Net: “Our salaries are barely enough for a few days… or a week at best.”
The current price of a grilled chicken is $ 12 USD making it an extraordinary luxury that most residents cannot afford.
As well as suffering from high inflation and a shortage of food, Assad’s security men have detained hundreds of thousands of civilians and sent them to fight with Assad "forces."
“Hundreds of families that fled from the Aleppo countryside towards the city to escape from Assad’s jets and barrel-bombs are suffering. Most of these families do not have steady jobs, and wealthy businessmen control the house rents,” Najlaa said.
In addition, city services have fallen to the wayside. Garbage is not picked up regularly, water is not always available and the unsanitary conditions have created health problems for the residents.
Najlaa, who has experience in the medical field, told Orient Net that everywhere she sees people with evidence of strange dermatological diseases that have never been common to the area.
The University of Aleppo campus, which used to be hallowed academic ground, is now littered with garbage and plagued with previously illegal street vendors trying to sell their wares.
The difficulties of life combined with regime propaganda and the incessant blaring of songs that support Assad have caused many residents to be ill tempered and irritable.
Assad thugs rule the streets and no one feels safe outside of their own homes. Even they have become dissatisfied with the current situation in Aleppo and act out their frustrations by preying upon defenseless residents.
Morals and manners have become a thing of the past.
“And if you are sick and want to be admitted to a hospital, God be with you,” Najlaa said, adding that the price of one night in the hospital is half a month’s wages.
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