During Ramadan heat wave, power outages add to Syrian hardship

Fasting during Islam's holiest month has gotten tougher for Syria's Muslims as daily power outages accompany an already sweltering summer season.
Already facing the July heat during Ramadan, Syrians are now struggling with the electricity outages that generally last between eight to 12 hours daily. Despite recent statements made by the Ministry of Electricity to assuage public discontent over the electricity situation, people in the capital Damascus and the surrounding areas are expressing resentment mingled with sarcasm over the long outages, a subject that has come to the forefront in recent days.
"It has been three years already into this crisis. We've survived mortar shells, explosions and our country has become one of the most dangerous places in the world. But do you think after this entire struggle we will die of this hot weather?" read a popular post shared by Syrians on social networking sites.
The Syrian government has blamed the long outages on repetitive attacks by the armed rebels against power stations across the crisis-stricken country.
The Ministry of Electricity said that electrical connections would improve within the next few days when maintenance workers finish fixing damaged power lines, mainly the Arab Gas Pipeline, which supports the electricity generating plants in the southern part of Syria, including the capital Damascus.
The Arab Gas Pipeline was bombed by the rebels last April in the central province of Homs, causing the loss of about four million cubic meters of gas, which in turn affected electricity- producing turbines in the southern region at the stations of al- Naseriyeh, Tishreen and Deir Ali.
After the April attack, the Syrian government began to ration the hours of electricity consumption in southern Syria.
Still many Syrians have raised concerns about the effectiveness of the Ministry of Electricity, whose statements have failed to soothe the people's worries, especially now that most Syrians are observing Ramadan, Islam's holy month when people abstain from food and drink from dawn till dusk period in attempt to test their faith and discipline.
But this test is now proving to be extremely difficult for Syrians left in the dark even during the day.
"My family and I are breaking our fast under the light of candles... this has become intolerable," said one Syrian resident, Rania, a 50-year-old mother of two.
For Rania, preparing food for Ramadan used to be a time of joy, but "because it's really hot and I am fasting, I can't really focus on what I am doing without a proper light," she said.
Many Syrians have expressed their discontent and criticism on social networking sites, demanding the Ministry of Electricity to decrease the outage hours at least during Ramadan.
"Is there any near solution for our suffering?" asked Lutfi, a 22-year-old, from the Damascus suburb of Qutaifeh, while adding that electricity outages have reached 20 hours a day in his area.
Minister of Oil Sulaiman Abbas told the pro-government Sham FM radio on Wednesday that his ministry and the Ministry of Electricity are working together to secure electricity and oil derivatives.
Abbas said his ministry's job is to provide fuel to the electricity stations, emphasizing that both ministries have endured sabotage which has damaged their infrastructure as a result of rebel attacks.
The official also blamed the government's inability to serve Syrians on the rebels' seizure of key areas in eastern Syria, where the majority of the oil plants are located.
Abbas cited a recent draft resolution by Russia to the UN Security Council that claimed the rebels are stealing Syrian oil and exporting it abroad, adding that the rebels export a total of 50 barrels of oil a day through Iraq and Turkey, which European companies then buy.
He said the Russian draft resolution aims to put an end to the oil-theft phenomena.
In the absence of the government, Syrians have started to find other practical ways to secure electricity, like buying car batteries adjusted by electricity inverters to provide power and using them to turn on a television set, an internet router or two or three lamps in the house.
For the majority of Syrians this method has proven practical for home use and more affordable than the regular electricity generators that can be bought at around 1,000 U.S. dollars while the electricity inverter typically costs only 250 dollars.