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In an article by the writer Anshal Vohra, American Foreign Policy magazine compared the conditions of the Syrian and Iraqi peoples under the rule of Presidents Bashar Al-Assad and Saddam Hussein.
He explained that the blind bombing of the Syrian regime and its Russian allies during the 9 years of the civil war had ruined the country’s infrastructure, leading to the decline in food production and the abandonment of electricity generation and other industries, and the The economy – linked to its Lebanese counterpart – stumbled for a time.
However, earlier this year, with monetary policy crumbling in Lebanon and capital controls imposed to prevent a rush to banks, billions of dollars in deposits were banned for Syrian companies. Assad claims that Lebanese banks are left with at least $ 20 billion in Syrian profits, which, if accessible, will solve the Syrian economic crisis in one fell swoop.
Fuehr added that social media is full of images of hundreds of Syrians, as they queue in front of bakeries to buy subsidized bread and car caravans, while waiting for hours in front of gas stations.
According to the author, more than 80 percent of Syrians now live below the poverty line. Desperation to make ends meet has led to an increase in crime, as smuggling gangs of contraband, weapons and drugs, as well as kidnapping people for ransom, proliferate in various parts of the country.
While all of this is closely tied to decades of corruption, mismanagement and brutal crushing of rebel-held territory, some critics say the crises are also the result of US sanctions.
He spoke of an unsettling comparison of whether sanctions would be as severe and self-destructive in Syria as they were in Iraq two decades ago. The figures are controversial, but according to one study, half a million children are said to have died in Iraq as a result of the US-led sanctions. Saddam Hussein remained a dictator as he always was and was only overthrown after years of suffering when the United States attacked with its army.
“The goal of Caesar’s sanctions is equally,” Fohr said, “to force the Syrian regime to change its behavior towards its people from a fighter to a more favorable one.” High-ranking Western diplomats have told Foreign Policy numerous times that sanctions are the West’s latest way against Assad to pressure him to release political prisoners, ensure the safe return of refugees, and agree to a political reconciliation that, if done honestly, it would ultimately mean leaving him in power.
They insist that paying the costs of rebuilding Syria, including infrastructure such as power plants and irrigation systems essential for the country’s food security and daily life, will end up strengthening the regime’s crackdown. They do not intend to allow Assad to succeed, at least not unless he makes major concessions.
But others say that sanctions cannot fix an irreparable dictator and that they are only punishing the Syrian people. They assume that the Syrian people, as in Iraq, are the hardest hit by the sanctions, while Assad and his aides are not facing a shortage of food or fuel.
Bennett Schiller, head of the Middle East and North Africa division at the German Heinrich Boll Foundation, says that US sanctions on certain economic sectors had a negative impact on ordinary citizens, while sanctions imposed by the European Union they targeted large sectors, including travel bans on regime officials. The Syrian and his proxies are based on the role they have played in the human rights violations.
Aaron Lund, a Syrian affairs specialist at the Swedish Defense Research Agency, believes that the US and European sanctions came with exceptions for humanitarian activities and legitimate civilian trade. However, companies tended to fear having something to do with a sanctioned country, simply because understanding the rules was too complex and they didn’t want to take any risks. “Companies avoid even permissible trade, simply to avoid risks and legal disputes. When international banks or shipping companies decide that the sanctions regime is not worth dealing with, it makes imports more difficult and expensive in all areas. “.
The article added that even Syrians who opposed the regime began to say that sanctions against the oil and gas and construction sectors harm people more than the regime. The sanctions have made products more expensive for ordinary Syrians.
Faced with stubborn and uncompromising Assad, the United States faces an impossible dilemma, according to Fohr, who adds that former US President Barack Obama did not repeat, like the Iraq war, a war that would topple Assad but commit the United States to another. country in the foreseeable future.
However, the Syrian problem remains unsolved. Nine years later, Obama’s vice president-elect, Joe Biden, faces a different challenge: “How can we stop the famine in Syria and help people relive their lives without the benefit of Assad?” The guilt feelings of former Obama administration colleagues who have watched the Syrian war turn into chaos will lead you to deeply worry. As for the extent to which Syria will be on the priority list for the next president, this is another matter, which concludes the gist of your article.
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