Syria Diesel Prices Jump 40% Triggering Widespread Unrest

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Syria has increased diesel prices by 40% and gasoline by up to 28%, triggering widespread protests along major highways and towns such as Damascus, Aleppo, and Hama. The unrest is the largest since Assad's fall in December 2024, affecting crude tanker convoys and causing industrial disruptions.

Syria raised diesel prices 40% and gasoline prices by as much as 28% on Saturday, and protesters blocked the highway linking Damascus to Aleppo and burned tires along the road to Turkey within 24 hours, the widest unrest since Bashar al-Assad's fall in December 2024. Diesel now costs 175 Syrian pounds a liter and household and industrial gas prices climbed roughly 9%. Protests also broke out in Hama, Khan Sheikhoun and Maarat al-Numan, and crude tanker convoys bound for refineries were halted en route. Syria's Energy Ministry called the increase…