Damascus bans import of live animals and meat

The ministerial committee in charge of following up the status of livestock has canceled licenses offered to import live animals and unprocessed meats from all countries with no exception.

The director of the livestock health department at the ministry of agriculture Adel Zeyadah said that "this decision is a preventive measure to protect Syria from the Cracked valley fever " which is a virus disease transferred from bugs and is recently spread in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

Zeyadah added that Syria is completely free of the disease and that the preventive measures so far pursued are enough to keep the situation under control. He explained that the canceled licensing imports of livestock are very few and that national production is enough and there is still a surplus for exports and therefore this decision will have no diverse impact on the prices of meat because they are available locally.

Worthy mentioning the ministerial committee in charge of following up this issue and which took the embargo decision includes the ministers of local administration, health and the agriculture.