Is Widespread Poverty A Convincing Reason For Stealing Incidents In Syria?

The war in Syria has led to negative phenomena which affect the society in general considering that up to 80 percent of the Syrians have been classified by humanitarian organizations to be living beyond poverty line. However, there is a thin line between the spread of those phenomena such as stealing, and the social traditions with which the Syrians have been raised in their conservative community; for dignity-, good reputation and refusing humiliation are ones of the most important qualities that this deep rooted people is known for.
“Are severe poverty and missing security considered to be a convincing justification for the widespread robbery whether in regime- held areas or opposition territories”, it is a question raising up as these incidents keep remarkably taking placing as if this phenomenon turned to be so usual and common just like death, with which we coexist in the reality of war.
Probably stealing motorcycles is one of the most repeated incidents taking place on daily basis in Idlib city and its countryside regarding its intensive widespread where the citizens count on motorcycle because it is a simple means of transportation. Mohammad who is a student in Arabic Literature faculty in Idlib University, said:” I do not know for how long the city will live in this mess and security chaos. 3 motorcycles were stolen in day light from me in three different times, as if thieves had been watching and waiting for the right moment to steal them”.
The Executive Force in the province of Idlib works on spreading wandering patrols in the province to keep security in the area. However, incidents are still happening where it has developed to stealing the shops and cars; so that it can reach kidnapping in return for money. There are unanimous gangs who plan for these operations aiming to arouse panic and fear in the citizens’ hearts.
Areas held by regime which are supposed to have security, are going through similar incidents; the page “Yomiyat Qazifet Hawin” (The Dairies Of A Mortar Shell) posted that the investigations revealed a gang of three persons and a woman who had worked on stealing jewelry shops, adding that the girl would enter the shop with the pretext to buy some jewelry where she then numbed him. The investigations emphasized that the gang after stealing jewelry, the gang smuggled it outside the country pointing to the fact that a member of the gang addicted to drugs. This incident is considered to be the second in Damascus after the gang last year killed a jeweler where they steal the jewelry in his shop and then killed him.
These widespread incidents of this phenomena affect the citizens’ lives negatively in the first place and the community in general. Is not war suffering enough for the Syrian citizens, to go through these incidents? Poverty is not a reasonable pretext to justify the crimes of perpetrators, here the role of officials to keep security in the country emerges as the civilians’ souls are at risk.
By Samah Alkhaled
Translated by Sabah Najem
Syrian Press Center
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