A report published in the American Foreign Policy magazine states that the new US sanctions against Syria will enter into force next week, and that they would threaten the country's fragile economy and deal a new blow to the defeated Syrian regime.
The magazine's correspondent, Amy McKinnon, says in her report that new US sanctions against Syria could push its collapsed economy to the brink of an abyss. And it indicates that the new sanctions would affect any global party dealing with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
She adds that the sanctions included in the so-called Caesar Law, which received bipartisan support in Congress and was passed as part of the annual defense spending bill, are the most severe sanctions on the system since the war began nine years ago.
Pressure and measures
The reporter says that the new US sanctions are aimed at pressuring the besieged Assad to activate human rights reforms, noting that senior Republicans and Democrats in congressional foreign affairs committees last Monday called on the administration of President Donald Trump to implement the new measures vigorously as soon as they enter into force.
These American officials said in a statement that the Syrian regime and its sponsors must stop slaughtering innocents and provide the Syrian people with a path toward reconciliation, stability and freedom.
But critics of Caesar's law fear that it could make life more difficult for Syrian civilians, as it is likely to have negative effects on the fragile economy in Lebanon, according to the author.
Escalating crisis The
report says that while Assad appears victorious after the brutal war and talk has turned to reconstruction, the accelerating economic crisis is now threatening his grip on power.
McKinnon explains that the fallout from the years of catastrophic war and corruption is now accumulating in a deep economic crisis in neighboring Lebanon, that more than half of the Syrian citizens are suffering for food, and that the value of the Syrian currency has fallen by 70% since last April.
Under pressure, she
points to anti-Assad protests that erupted in the southern city of As-Suwayda last Sunday, and says she considers rare protests since Assad regained control of most of the country brutally, and that it has continued intermittently throughout the week, calling for the president's resignation.
McKinnon adds that while the crowds at the demonstrations were modest, but they were unfamiliar, as Sweida remained loyal to the regime throughout the war.
It explains that other sporadic protests erupted elsewhere in the country, including the shield from which the Syrian uprising began in 2011.
She notes that Assad dismissed last Thursday Prime Minister Imad Khamis who had held the post since 2016, and that no official explanation for the move had been provided, but observers widely interpreted it as an attempt to defuse the growing public anger over the economic crisis.
McKinnon concluded that Assad may now face his greatest challenge, as the grievances that fueled the 2011 uprising not only persisted, but were exacerbated over the past years by sanctions, war and corruption.