JARAMANA, Syria (AP) — Rana Al-Ahmad opens her fridge after breaking fast at sundown with her husband and four children during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Apart from eggs, potatoes and some bread, it’s empty because state electricity in Syria only comes two hours a day.

“We can’t leave our food in the fridge because it will spoil,” she said.

Her husband, a taxi driver in Damascus, is struggling to make ends meet, so the family can’t afford to install a solar panel in their two-room apartment in Jaramana on the outskirts of the capital.

Months after a lightning insurgency ended over half a century of the Assad dynasty’s rule in Syria, the Islamist interim government has been struggling to fix battered infrastructure after a 14-year conflict decimated much of the country. Severe electricity shortages continue to plague the war-torn country.

The United Nations estimates that 90% of Syrians live in poverty and the Syrian government has only been able to provide about two hours of electricity every day. Millions of Syrians, like Al-Ahmad and her family, can’t afford to pay hefty fees for private generator services or install solar panels.

Syria’s new authorities under interim leader Ahmad Al-Sharaa have tried to ease the country’s electricity crisis, but have been unable to stop the outages with patchwork solutions.

Even with a recent gas deal with Qatar and an agreement with Kurdish-led authorities that will give them access to Syria’s oil fields, the country spends most of its days with virtually no power. Reports of oil shipments coming from Russia, a key military and political ally of Assad, shows the desperation.

Pitch black

At Al-Ahmad’s home, she and her husband were only able to get a small battery that could power some lights.

“The battery we have is small and its charge runs out quickly,” said Al-Ahmad, 37. It’s just enough that her children can huddle in the living room to finish their homework after school.

And the family is not alone. Everywhere in Syria, from Damascus to Daraa in the south, neighborhoods turn pitch black once the sun sets, lit only from street lamps, mosque minarets and car headlights.

The downfall of Assad in December brought rare hope to Syrians. But the new interim authorities have scrambled to establish control across the country and convince Western nations to lift economic sanctions to make its economy viable again.

The United States in January eased some restrictions for six months, authorizing some energy-related transactions. But it doesn’t appear to have made a significant difference on the ground just yet.

Battered and bruised fields

Washington and other Western governments face a delicate balance with Syria’s new authorities, and appear to be keen on lifting restrictions only if the war-torn country’s political transition is democratic and inclusive of Syrian civil society, women and non-Sunni Muslim communities.

Some minority groups have been concerned about the new authorities, especially incidents of revenge attacks targeting the Alawite community during a counter-offensive against an insurgency of Assad loyalists.

Fixing Syria’s damaged power plants and oil fields takes time, so Damascus is racing to get as much fuel as it can to produce more energy.

Damascus is now looking towards the northeastern provinces, where its oil fields under Kurdish-led authorities are to boost its capacity, especially after reaching a landmark ceasefire deal with them.

Political economist Karam Shaar said 85% of the country’s oil production is based in those areas, and Syria once exported crude oil in exchange for refined oil to boost local production, though the fields are battered and bruised from years of conflict.

These crucial oil fields fell into the hands of the extremist Islamic State group, which carved out a so-called caliphate across large swaths of Syria and Iraq from 2014 to 2017.

“It’s during that period where much of the damage to the (oil) sector happened,” said Shaar, highlighting intense airstrikes and fighting against the group by a U.S.-led international coalition.

After IS fell, the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces took control of key fields, leaving them away from the central government in Damascus. The new authorities hope to resolve this in a landmark deal with the SDF signed earlier this month.

Kamran Omar, who oversees oil production in the Rmeilan oil fields in the northeastern city of Hassakeh, says shortages in equipment and supplies and clashes that persisted with Turkey and Turkish-backed forces have slowed down production, but told the AP that some of that production will eventually go to households and factories in other parts of Syria.

The fields only produce a fraction of what they once did. The Rmeilan field sends just 15,000 of the approximately 100,000 barrels they produce to other parts of Syria to ease some of the burden on the state.

The authorities in Damascus also hope that a recent deal with Qatar that would supply them with gas through Jordan to a major plant south of the capital will be the first of more agreements.

The cornerstone of recovery

Syria’s authorities have not acknowledged reports of Russia sending oil shipments to the country. Moscow once aided Assad in the conflict against armed Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that toppled the former president, but this shows that they are willing to stock up on fuel from whoever is offering.

Interim Electricity Minister Omar Shaqrouq admitted in a news conference that bringing back electricity to Syrian homes 24 hours a day is not on the horizon.

“It will soon be four hours, but maybe some more in the coming days.”

Increasing that supply will be critical for the battered country, which hopes to ease the economic woes of millions and bring about calm and stability. Shaar, who has visited and met with Syria’s new authorities, says that the focus on trying to bring fuel in the absence of funding for major infrastructural overhauls is the best Damascus can do given how critical the situation is.

“Electricity is the cornerstone of economic recovery,” said Shaar. “Without electricity you can’t have a productive sector, (or any) meaningful industries.”

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Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press journalist Hogir El Abdo reported from Hassakeh, Syria.

Kareem Chehayeb And Abdelrahman Shaheen, The Associated Press

The father of a woman recently identified as the victim of a Winnipeg serial killer has decided she will continue to be known as Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe. 

An anti-violence activist says the invention, which can detect drugs within 30 seconds, aims to make the stir sticks ubiquitous in bars, clubs and pubs, so every single drink served comes with a safety test.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are less likely to see Canada and the U.S. as close allies than they were two years ago, the latest indication that President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and talk of taking over a neighboring ally are souring a critical economic and military relationship.

The U.S. shift in viewpoint comes primarily from Democrats, though Republicans are less likely to see Canada as America’s ally now too, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. While about 7 in 10 Democrats saw Canada and the U.S. as close allies before Trump returned to office, now that number is down to about half. For Republicans, the number dropped from 55% to 44%.

Although most still see the countries’ relationship as at least “friendly,” just under half of U.S. adults now consider the U.S. to be “close allies” with its neighbor to the north. That’s down from about 6 in 10 in a Pearson Institute/AP-NORC poll conducted in September 2023.

“He’s turning everybody against us,” bemoaned Lynn Huster, 73, a lifelong Democrat who lives in York, Pennsylvania. Huster says she has been dismayed by Trump’s actions and how they have affected relationships with other allies, including the United Kingdom.

“Canada,” she said, had been “our friends, you know, they backed us. And some of the other countries, the U.K., they don’t want any part of us anymore. And it’s sad that our country’s going to stand alone if anything happens.”

The poll comes as Trump has dramatically realigned U.S. foreign policy and America’s relations since his return to office.

He has slapped sweeping tariffs on goods made in Canada, Mexico and China, and this week added a 25% tax on imported autos. Next week, he says he will put in place “reciprocal” taxes mirroring the tariffs charged by other nations — a move he is calling “Liberation Day.”

Beyond the economic threats, Trump has repeatedly antagonized and belittled historic partners, notably the one with which the U.S. shares a 5,500-mile (8,900-kilometer) border. He has threatened Canada’s sovereignty, saying it should become the country’s 51st state, and repeatedly labeled its prime minister “governor.”

His moves have sparked deep feelings of betrayal across Canada, where the U.S.-Canada relationship had long been seen akin to family. The U.S. national anthem has been booed at Canadian arenas and American liquor has been stripped from Canadian shelves.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose party’s fortunes have been revived by taking a hard line against Trump, said Thursday that the U.S. is “no longer a reliable partner” and that Canadians must now “look out for ourselves.”

Shaya Scher, 35, a Republican who lives in New Jersey, argues that Trump’s rhetoric toward Canada is largely bluster.

“I think he’s just doing it to make them freak out so they can get a deal,” Scher said.

He believes a deal will eventually happen and tensions will ease.

“I think at the end of the day, they’re still allies,” he said. “Under the hood we’re still allies, and if anything comes up, we’ll still be allies.”

Others, however, were more despondent.

“He’s sabotaging decades of goodwill by having tariffs on foreign steel and foreign cars and foreign flowers,” said Scott Cunningham, 69, a Democrat who lives in South Bend, Indiana. “Tariffs are really going to hurt relationships — trading relationships, personal relationships — after being allies for decades. You do something like that, I’m going to remember that.”

About 3 in 10 Americans see Canada as “friendly but not a close ally,” while about 2 in 10 say the two countries are “not friendly but not enemies.” Very few see them as outright “enemies.”

Cunningham characterized the current U.S. relationship with Canada as “not friendly but not enemies.”

“We’re not friends because of tariffs and him wanting to take over the country. That’s not going well,” he said. ”It’s very strained right now.”

When it comes to the rest of the world, the AP-NORC poll found about half of U.S. adults see the United Kingdom as a close U.S. ally, but only about 3 in 10 say the same about France and Germany. About 4 in 10 say the European Union is a close ally.

Almost no Americans see either Russia or China as a close ally. About one-third say China is an enemy of the United States, and a similar share think this about Russia. Republicans are less likely to see Russia as a threat. Only about one-third of Republicans see Russia as an enemy of the U.S., compared to about 4 in 10 Democrats.

Trent Ramsaran, 37, a freelancer who lives in Brooklyn, New York, said many European leaders of traditional U.S. allies clearly have conflicting views with Trump, particularly on immigration.

“I’m starting to see the pattern there where it seems like all these quote-unquote allies are in favor of having immigrants take over the country,” he said. “His vision is really not the same as these allies. So he’s saying these allies are not on the same page.”

But Ramsaran said he’s not at all worried about the U.S. someday needing allies it has alienated, given how much the country spends on defense and high-tech weapons.

“If America ended up being attacked, I’m totally confident that we do not need the help of our allies to defend this country,” he said. “We’ve got Tom Cruise. He can teach people how to dogfight in ‘Top Gun.’”

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Colvin reported from New York.

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The AP-NORC poll of 1,229 adults was conducted Mar. 20-24, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

Jill Colvin And Linley Sanders, The Associated Press