One Country, Different Interests: Syrian Crowds Line up to Buy iPhone 12

By Sally Shakkour

Despite ongoing war in Syria, photos of a huge line of people waiting to buy the new brand iPhone 12 have shocked the internet users.

Syrian telecom Company called Emmatel, which was established last year in Damascus, is believed to be the Middle East’s first retail company to import iPhone12 released by Apple Company on 13 October.

Emmatel offered to sell the pricey phones on October 24 in which a huge crowd of Syrian shoppers lined up eagerly to get the latest technology despite the fact of continued war in Syria, economic crisis, and the sanctions imposed by the US.

Users took it to social media to show their anger as thousands of people in Syria are suffering poor life conditions with the fact that the new brand iPhone12 price equals around 8 years of governmental work in the country.

Other people have shared photos of residents lining up to buy basic life materials such as bread and oil.

Translations: Organizing a line for buying bread. This photo was shared for a bakery in Damascus trying to organize a bread line. People enter a cage and wait for hours to get a single small bag of bread. Aside from the way it's done and the pandemic restrictions. Isn't it humiliating? 
In fact, I don’t see a deficiency in any man standing in this line, as they definitely don't have the price of a bundle of bread from any grocery store. The person at fault is the one who agreed to this cage idea, because he knows that the needy people will end up doing no matter what. Does their child agree to stand in this cage for a second, can they stand? Those who need to change their phones and cars every year. Shame on you .. Francois Darani“

Translation: “In Syria you can’t find bread, petrol, gas, meat, flour, or oil. However, you can find all mobile phone brands from Huawei to Motorola to iPhone in all kinds. Oh dear God.”

Some users revealed that importing such things needs approval from OFAC which is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the US Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives.

Syria has been suffering under the civil war since 2011, the early beginning of the Arab Spring. The estimated total number of deaths in the Syrian Civil War vary between 384,000 and about 577,660 as of May 2020.