SYRIA: Checkpoint “taxes” imposed on cars travelling for eastern Ghouta to Daramsuq
DARAMSUQ — Informed sources from the Syrian capital Daramsuq (Damascus) reported that Syrian regime checkpoints continue to restrict the movement of residents in areas that have at one point or another fallen outside of its control over the course of the civil war.
Regime soldiers have also reportedly resorted to imposing “taxes” on cars in exchange for passage through those checkpoints.
“The regime’s checkpoints force every car that wants to enter or leave Damascus to pay 500 Syrian pounds,” said a local source, pointing out that, “the security forces of the checkpoints inspect the cars of young men from eastern Ghouta in general, and the people of Douma city in particular, while they are passing through the checkpoints.”
The source continued that they are often stopped for excessive amounts of time and subjected to full inspections.