Islamic State-imposed fuel embargo threatens Syria’s medical centres

Islamic State (IS) fighters are preventing fuel shipments from reaching rebel-held parts of northern Syria, causing severe shortages that are paralysing ambulances and stopping medical centres from providing care, according to anti-government activists and aid workers.

Adding to the misery, international aid groups said, the forces of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, are targeting medical centres in opposition areas, killing some workers and forcing facilities to close.

The fuel shortages highlight how more than four years of war have ravaged the economy and allowed the warring parties to use the country’s scarce resources as a vice to squeeze their enemies.

Bakeries Since

Islamic State seized oil-rich regions in Syria’s north and east, it has used their output to finance its efforts to build an Islamic emirate that straddles the Syria-Iraq border. Traders from elsewhere in Syria, such as the rebel-held regions in the northwest, have long bought locally refined petrol products in Islamic State-controlled areas and trucked them home, where residents came to rely on them to power their cars and fuel generators that powered clinics, bakeries and other essential facilities.

But this month, the jihadis began barring fuel trucks from leaving their areas, according to activists, aid workers and truckers. "They are using fuel as a weapon," said Dr Khaled Almilaji, of the Canadian International Medical Relief Organisation, which supports medical facilities in northern Syria.

The fuel embargo, Almilaji noted, comes as Islamic State has been clashing with rebel groups as it seeks to expand in Aleppo province. Almilaji said he presumed that the fuel cutoff was aimed at weakening the rebels to ease a jihadi advance.

But the cut-off has affected more than the rebels' ability to fill up their trucks, he said. Clinics lacking electricity cannot treat the wounded, give dialysis or provide other essential services, the doctor said. Medical committees in Idlib and Hama provinces have warned that they will have to shut down facilities soon if they do not receive fuel.

The shortages have also limited the movements of emergency medical workers in areas where the government frequently drops barrel bombs that destroy buildings and often leave civilians buried in the rubble. – (New York Times service)