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DEIR EZ-zor, syria-feels-lighter-without-the-assads-crushing-weight-but-now-there-are-new-problems/" class="smart-internal-link" title="📰 Jeremy Bowen: Syria feels lighter without the Assads' crushing weight - but now there are new problems">syria/" class="smart-internal-link" title="⚔️ UN warns funding shortfall could stall return of millions to Syria">syria/" class="auto-internal-link">syria (North Press) – Between the mud-brick houses of the town of al-Shaafa in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, eastern Syria, Umm Abdullah sits with her young children on the floor of a room whose wooden walls barely hold up its doors and windows. The heavy air—thick with the smell of sulfur and black smoke—chokes them daily. Even a light breeze is enough to carry toxins into their lungs, making breathing difficult and nights unbearably long. Furthermore, for them, there is no longer a difference between day and night—the air itself has become a silent enemy.
Amid the overlapping crises that have battered Syria for years, a quiet environmental and health disaster is emerging, threatening the lives of thousands in the eastern countryside. Here, makeshift refineries that burn crude oil release their toxins into the air, adding a emerging kind of war to a region already exhausted by years of crisis. Daily source of poison As battles intensified across the country and most oil extraction operations came to a halt, residents turned to burning crude oil in makeshift outdoor refineries. The goal was to extract fuel derivatives, but the process releases massive amounts of toxic gases and fine particles that pollute the air, soil, and water—causing severe respiratory and skin illnesses, especially among women and children who spend most of their time indoors.
The crisis is worsened by extreme poverty. Residents are trapped between working in this dangerous environment and protecting their families’ health. The consequence is the daily inhalation of poison, with no real alternatives. authorities visit the area occasionally and promise solutions, but nothing changes on the ground. As Umm Abdullah tells North Press, “Our lives have become trapped in this black smoke. ” Fifty-year-old Umm Abdullah recounts her story in a weary voice. “We can no longer distinguish day from night.
The smell of sulfur and burnt materials hangs over our home and our hearts. On nights when the wind blows toward our town, the air becomes so heavy we can barely breathe. We’re forced to seal the windows and doors as if we were in a gas chamber. ” She points to her teenage daughter, who suffers from asthma, “She used to be one of the top students in her school, but now she misses numerous days due to shortness of breath and asthma diagnosed by the doctor. Medicine is expensive and not enough. numerous of…