Trump Admin Comes Down on Assad, Syrian Elite with New Sanctions
The Trump administration on Wednesday dialed up pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad, his wife, Asma, and his inner circle with new economic and travel sanctions for human rights abuses.
The State Department said 39 Syrians, including Assad and his wife, had been designated for the new sanctions.
Others include members of the extended Assad family, senior military leaders and business executives.
Many of those on the list were already subject to U.S. sanctions, but the penalties also target non-Syrians who do business with them.
Separately, the Treasury Department announced that it has imposed sanctions on 24 individuals, companies and government agencies that “are actively supporting the corrupt reconstruction efforts” of Assad.
One newcomer to the U.S. blacklists is Asma Assad, who had not been previously targeted. She was cited by the State Department as “one of Syria’s most notorious war profiteers.”
Asma Assad has increasingly sought to centralize all charity work under her control and that of the Syria Trust for Development, where most foreign aid for postwar reconstruction is channeled.
The sanctions are the result of legislation known as the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, named after the pseudonym of a Syrian policeman who turned over photographs of thousands of victims of torture by the Assad government.
“Today’s designations send a clear message that no individual or business should enter into business with or otherwise enrich such a vile regime,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the designations represent “the beginning of what will be a sustained campaign of economic and political pressure to deny the Assad regime revenue and support it uses to wage war and commit mass atrocities against the Syrian people.”
“Anyone doing business with the Assad regime, no matter where in the world they are, is potentially exposed to travel restrictions and financial sanctions,” Pompeo said in a statement.
Besides rights abuses, those targeted were also hit for obstructing a peaceful political resolution to the country’s long-running conflict.
In addition to Bashar and Asma Assad, those designated on Wednesday include Assad’s sister Bushra; his brother, Maher, and his wife, Manal; Mohamed Hamsho, the head of the Damascus Chamber of Commerce; his wife, Rania al-Dabbas; his son, Ahmed, a show jumper on Syria’s equestrian team in the 2012 Olympics; and Ghassan Ali, a right-hand man of Maher Assad, and Samer al-Dana, who are both leaders of the Syrian military’s Fourth Division.
Syria’s foreign ministry said the measures were a violation of international law and showed that U.S. officials were behaving like “gangs and bandits.”
The Damascus government also accused the U.S. of hypocrisy, saying that in light of the recent unrest across America, the United States should be “the last to utter words about human rights.”
Even so, Wednesday’s announcement was widely expected, and ahead of it, Syria devalued its currency by 44 percent. Syria announced a new official exchange rate for the pound amid chaos in the market just hours before the sanctions took effect.
Syria is already facing sanctions — some in place even before the war — imposed by the United States and European countries against officials or individuals linked to Assad’s government.
The new sanctions will likely severely impact the inflow of foreign capital, especially from Russia and Iran, Assad’s main allies, as well as China and neighboring countries.
The Washington-based Syria Justice and Accountability Center said the Caesar sanctions are designed for this purpose, “aiming to deter foreign financial engagement and commercial reconstruction agreements with the Assad government.”
But the group said the sanctions also contain provisions exempting humanitarian goods and services and are intended to ensure the flow of aid and mitigate the economic consequences for the Syrian people.
Still, many commercial transactions have stopped. The government, in an effort to control the flow of foreign currency and the exchange rate, has cracked down on hawalas — offices of exchange that are used by the majority of Syrians — which has also impacted the flow of foreign currency in the country.
A financial crisis in neighboring Lebanon, where there are controls on withdrawals and a shortage of foreign currency, has also impacted the Syrian banking sector.
Iran’s own economic woes, and the economic impact of coronavirus restrictions in the region, have all added to the crisis in Syria.
“Ultimately, the most significant cause of the economic crisis is the Syrian government — its irresponsible fiscal policy, continuous corruption, refusal to respect international laws and norms or engage in good-faith political and diplomatic negotiations,” SCJA said in a report issued Tuesday, which added that the sanctions offer a clear path for the Syrian government out of the sanctions.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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