By Ahmad Sabra | Staff Writer
Amidst one of the biggest natural disasters Syria has witnessed in the last few decades, humanitarian aid is very scarce where it is needed the most. Numerous actors in the Syrian political scene are justifying this scarcity in a way that fits their narrative. The Western sanctions on Syria, namely the Caesar Act, came to light as some used it to justify why international organizations and NGOs are avoiding Syria. “Progressives” and anti-imperialists rallied to stop the sanctions on Syria, claiming that they were the reason why Syrian people were left mostly unassisted. Others have cited Assad’s history of hijacking and blocking aid to his people, especially those residing in the areas controlled by the opposition.
Caesar Law: Banning Aid from Syria?
The Caesar Syrian Civilian Protection Act of 2019 is a list of economic and diplomatic sanctions targeting members associated with the Syrian regime, namely President Bashar Al Assad and his close circle, for the atrocities committed on the Syrian people during the civil war. The sanctions try to prevent investors from doing business with the regime. The United States has boasted about these sanctions as being “smart”, in that they target the war criminals directly and cripple the regime while minimizing the effect the sanctions have on the Syrian people. However, sections 305,306, and 402c of the Caesar Act allow humanitarian aid to those in need in Syria.
Assadist Propagandists: It’s all the West’s fault.
Nonetheless, the Syrian Regime has used the Act to try and justify why Syria has been excluded from international aid and has used the catastrophes the earthquake caused to try and call for the sanctions to be lifted. The Syrian Regime’s sudden concern with the life of their civilians peaked when the opportunity came to blame the west for the tragedy of the Syrian people. The Assadist regime’s legacy has been to ban humanitarian aid in an attempt to pressure oppositional forces to surrender while claiming that the aid violates Syrian sovereignty. In fact, Syria’s envoy to the United Nations has announced that aid to Syria can only go “through the legitimate regime”, denying any hope to open the borders to areas controlled by the opposition (which are also the areas most affected by the earthquake), leaving aid organizations two options: Send Aid through Damascus (where it will not reach the people in northern Syria, and most of it will be hijacked by Assad’s officers), or not sending aid at all. The Syrian regime even went as far as banning the white helmets (a humanitarian organization based in northern Syria) from conducting rescue missions in Assad-controlled Syria, claiming that they are terrorists, and urging donations to stop going to them and instead funnel through the regime.
The regime that has massively bombed their people throughout the civil war, and suffocated their people with chemical weapons, now found it convenient to value human life as the opportunity to blame the west and achieve some political gains came to fruition. Even if their argument was true, it is important to highlight the regime’s hypocrisy.
It is obvious that the regime is trying to exploit the misery of the Syrian people for political gains. Assad sees it as an opportunity to demand the sanctions be lifted, perhaps ending Damascus’ isolation. There is no arguing that the economic crisis Syria faces today is a result of both sanctions and the regime’s corruption, but Assad’s regime is primarily responsible for aid not reaching Syrian people under the rubble.