A man buys goods from a counter at a consumer corporation affiliated to the Ministry of Internal Trade in Damascus February 22, 2015. The Syrian government does not expect to import wheat this year because domestic grain supplies will be boosted by heavy rainfall and wider control over farmland, a minister said. Hassan Safiyeh, the minister of internal trade and consumer protection, also told Reuters that a credit line extended by Iran to its Syrian ally had been unaffected by the collapse in world oil prices and fuel imports continued. Safiyeh's ministry oversees the provision of heavily subsidised foodstuffs and fuel to Syrians in areas of government control, making it a vital arm of the state in a country about to enter its fifth year of conflict. The state has lost control of oilfields and wide areas of agricultural land seized by insurgents during the conflict that has devastated the economy. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT FOOD)