he price of food has soared in Syria, leaving many of its people at risk of going hungry. Yet from his office in Qamishli, in the north-east, a trader describes how officials make it hard to bring wheat to market. His lorries must cross scores of checkpoints on their way to Damascus, the capital. Most demand fees. Kurdish forces charge by the tonne at the de facto border between the territory they control and that of President Bashar al-Assad.
