DAMASCUS — Syria’s economy is in tatters after the country’s increasingly violent civil conflict has all but killed off commercial activity. Businesses have seen a steady decline in output during the Syrian uprising, but the recent intensification of violence in the country’s two main cities has practically brought it to a standstill.
“I sit in the shop all day doing nothing,” said Ziad, a 22-year-old employee in a construction company in the hard-hit Midan neighborhood of Damascus. “There is no work because we can’t import any of the primary materials we need nor deliver any of the goods that we have.”
