ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) on Wednesday warned of a “profound economic collapse” in Syria, blaming government-imposed restrictions and blockades for the market downturn and urging Damascus to implement immediate “rescue plans” to ensure basic necessities and stabilize prices. 

The council expressed concern over “the accelerating decline of economic and living conditions throughout Syria,” asserting that the humanitarian situation in the besieged city of Kobane, Deir ez-Zor, and other areas across the country “serves as a stark reflection of the nation’s profound economic collapse.”

“Soaring prices, a collapsing currency, and the disappearance of job opportunities have driven unemployment, destitution, and poverty to levels unprecedented in Syrian history,” it added.

“Ongoing governmental policies that restrict economic activity and maintain blockades on certain regions have paralyzed local markets,” the SDC said.

The SDC is the political wing of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

A recent government decision to shut down makeshift oil refineries has triggered a sudden surge in fuel prices, sparking inflation that has driven up the cost of bread, flour, and that have added an “unbearable weight to citizens, pushing public frustration toward dangerous levels of despair.”

Syria continues to struggle economically over a year after the rise of Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa to power, despite the president’s vows of economic reform.

The economic woes have been most evident in the symbolic Kurdish city of Kobane, under a month-long suffocating siege imposed by Damascus, depriving residents of basic survival needs that led to several deaths, most of them children.

The Druze-majority province of Suwayda is also facing deteriorating economic conditions, including a “severe lack of gasoline and diesel,” according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, rendering heating generators inoperable and leading to “a significant rise of prices at the black market.”

Meanwhile, areas recently overtaken by Damascus following the withdrawal of the Kurdish-led forces amid a military campaign also face a “severe crisis,” according to the Observatory, where civil servants in government institutions were told to remain at their posts without receiving salaries, leaving thousands of families without a source of income amidst the current inflation crisis.”

The Kurdish-led council called on the Syrian government to “immediately implement clear economic rescue plans aimed at protecting citizens, securing food and health necessities, and ensuring that basic goods are priced according to people’s actual purchasing power.”