Damascus, Syria – The fuel price hike hit at midnight on Sunday. By Monday morning, frustration had poured into the streets, sparking open defiance across Syria. A sudden government decree drove diesel prices up by 40 percent overnight and petrol by 28 percent.
For millions of Syrians, the price increase is a direct threat to their survival. Demonstrators quickly gathered in public squares from Aleppo and Idlib in the north to Hama in central Syria and Deraa in the south, burning tyres and blocking key roads – including the main highway between Damascus and Aleppo. The initial wave of demonstrations has since eased in some areas, but the anger has not disappeared.
On Wednesday, protesters in northeastern Syria blocked the M4 highway near Tal Tamr, stranding hundreds of oil tankers. Demonstrators said they would not reopen the route unless the price increases were reversed. Beyond the protests, a black market for diesel is booming.
Syrian security units have started intercepting tankers caught heading to unlicensed refineries to fill up on illegal fuel. The anger stems from the immediate fallout from the government’s decision, which comes on the back of the high international price of oil, largely a result of the consequences of the United States-Israel war on Iran. The United Nations estimates that nearly 90 percent of Syrians live below the poverty line; any jump in fuel costs instantly drives up the price of transport and basic food.
And Sunday’s hike came on top of repeated increases. Since February, the price of 95-octane petrol has risen by about 86 percent, while diesel has more than doubled. Over the same period, benchmark Brent crude rose by about 44 percent.
It all comes as Syria continues its recovery from a devastating, more than decade-long war, which only ended with the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. The new government has been attempting to improve the country’s economy, including by successfully working to remove most of the international sanctions that had been placed on the country for years. But for many Syrians, economic improvements are not coming fast enough.
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