In pandemic year, Syrians blocked from Zoom, Netflix

Despite sanctions, a market for Apple and Android products exists in Syria, largely due to unofficial suppliers who import them from abroad. — Pixabay

DAMASCUS: Virtual platforms like Netflix and Zoom have emerged as lifelines for a pandemic-hit world forced indoors, but in sanctioned Syria where both websites are blocked, Mohammad Habash feels increasingly disconnected.

“We are living in a bubble isolated from the outside world,” the 35-year-old tech expert says from an electronics repair shop in Damascus.