The recent Turkish escalation in north and northeast Syria has forced the industrialists of the city of Kobani to close their factories after traders stopped ordering their products.
On Nov. 20, the Turkish air force launched intense airstrikes on several areas of north and northeast Syria on the Syrian-Turkish border in addition to bombarding areas that are more than 40 km away from the border such as the Global Coalition military base and Hawl Camp in Hasakah and the village of Makman in the northern countryside of Deir ez-Zor.
Since then, Ali Baki, 30, owner of a soft drink factory in the village of Tel Ghazal in the south of Kobani, has not sold any packages of soft drinks. This forced him to stop producing the drinks and close his factory.
Traders and industrialists in the city of Kobani fear a potential Turkish ground operation against their city. Some of them have left Kobani for other areas to be able to continue running their work in light of the continued intermittent Turkish bombing that has paralyzed business.
The closure of Baki’s factory has caused 11 workers to lose their jobs and left them without income to support their families.
Baki’s factory, which was opened in November 2021, used to produce about 500 packages of soft drinks per day.
He pointed out that re-operating the factory depends on the traders to demand their products again. However, this is linked to bringing the Turkish threats to an end and the confirmation that there will be no ground operation in the area.
The Turkish continued shelling of Kobani caused lower sales to 60 percent in the detergent factory owned by Othman Osso. This forced him to suspend four of his workers from their jobs after the production decreased.
