A state of anticipation and fear of possible economic effects prevails in the Syrian street with the start of the application of the US Penal Code (Caesar), and its entry into force in June, at a time when the Syrian pound is witnessing an unprecedented collapse against the US dollar, as the exchange rate of one dollar is approaching From two thousand Syrian pounds.
The application of "Caesar's sanctions" to the Syrian regime and its supporters coincides with an economic struggle within the Assad family that surfaced for the first time in decades, which was signed by the Syrian businessman Rami Makhlouf, who is tightening his grip on the most prominent economic projects in Syria, and the Syrian regime, which is rumored to seek to cut Makhlouf's nails and open The old files, with the state of isolation and political pressures experienced by Assad and his regime.
Although Caesar's sanctions target the Syrian regime in its content, the people in the regime-controlled and opposition-controlled areas in Syria fear that the sanctions deepen the deterioration of their living conditions, and increase the daily suffering in order to secure the sustenance of their day, in a country already suffering from economic collapse, unemployment and poverty imposed by the war.
With fears, the opposition hopes that these sanctions will be a painful blow to the Syrian regime and its elements, pushing it to the brink of collapse and yielding to real change in Syria, ending an era of a bloody march to the Syrian revolution, where thousands of civilians have paid their lives in detention, before they leak their defected Syrian military photos. Called "Caesar" to public opinion, and pushes Washington to enact those sanctions.
Opposition areas and
in the northern countryside of Aleppo, which is under the control of the Syrian opposition; The movement of markets seems almost stalled after the end of the Ramadan season and Eid al-Fitr, and traders say to Al Jazeera Net that the market has witnessed a slight recovery at the end of Ramadan.
Residents and traders in Aleppo countryside believe that purchasing power and price increases are inevitably linked to the value of the US dollar, whose exchange rate in the countryside of Aleppo recorded 1910 Syrian pounds for sale, and 1940 to buy.
Regarding the Caesar sanctions, the people and merchants in Aleppo countryside point to a new hope in achieving the fall of the Syrian regime after the balance of the military forces in Syria changed in favor of the regime and its supporters.
Subhi Bakour - a food dealer in the city of Azaz in Aleppo countryside (northern Syria) - says that the collapse of the Syrian currency has led to a great stalemate in the movement of markets since the end of the holiday, as most of the residents who own the dollar are afraid to spend it for fear of a big collapse coming in the value of the lira.
Bakour adds - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net - that the civilians who deal in the Syrian currency enter his store and are shocked and amazed by the high prices, and he hopes that the sanctions will contribute to the fall of the system and the achievement of justice for the detainees, while expressing his fear of the damage that occurs to the market and trade in the countryside Aleppo.
Abdel Qader Mohamed - who is from the countryside of Aleppo countryside - believes that most of the people dream about getting rid of the Syrian regime and the war has stopped, but simple civilians deal in the Syrian pound in buying and selling operations, and with every rise in the value of the dollar, prices rise and suffering increases.
Abdul Qadir adds to Al-Jazeera Net that the transfers of Syrians in the Diaspora to their families and some efforts of relief organizations in opposition areas contribute somewhat to modifying the economic situation of civilians; Many Syrians moved to Europe, sending money to their families in these difficult circumstances.
The areas of the regime
As for the areas of regime control, the situation appears to be worse with the regime preventing dealing in dollars, and the security prosecutions of merchants and money changers, as the regime intends to fight a war against the dollar in which only consecutive losses appear on its economy, while paying the civil collapse tax even from government employees Those whose monthly salary does not equal more than forty dollars at best.
Moataz Al-Halabi (not his real name), an employee at the Directorate of Education in Aleppo, tells Al-Jazeera Net that the value of his monthly salary in Syrian pounds does not exceed today $ 35, noting that his salary is not enough for him for more than one week only after the collapse of the value of the lira.
He adds to Al-Jazeera Net that the state of thousands of Syrians in the areas of the system who depend on their jobs and monthly salary, is likely to decrease the value of the lira more with the start of Caesar's law.
Those who monitor economic affairs reveal the long-term effects of these sanctions, and the parties that control decision-making in Syria.
Syrian economic analyst Younis Karim believes that the Syrian regime has absorbed and coped with Caesar's law, but the conditions that accompanied the sanctions make it severe, namely, the dispute between the Syrian regime and Rami Makhlouf, the Corona pandemic, and the regime's threat to neighboring countries with the epidemic, due to lack of control of the borders. He added that "the effect of the law on the economy will not be what is circulated in the media."
Karim believes that Caesar's law comes as a complement to new sanctions that have been proposed to the regime since 2011, describing them as "smart sanctions that include some of the personalities affiliated with the regime, and they put pressure on his allies to push him to a political solution and limit the capabilities of the allies in Syria."
Karim points out that the law will not have the effect that the Syrian people hope to get rid of the Syrian regime, as it is a blackmail paper against Russia and Iran to a minimum, and preventing the system from floating and returning to the international incubator after the regime's control of large areas of Syria.
On the law’s reflection on civilians in Syria, Karim saw that it would not affect the Syrians ’actions as simple ones, calling on the people in Syria to preserve the Syrian pound and the dollar until the battle between Assad and Makhlouf is clear.