The United States announced that it has embarked on a campaign of sanctions against the Syrian regime under the "Caesar" law that entered into force on Wednesday, as the first batch targeted President Bashar al-Assad, his wife, personalities and other entities.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Twitter that the "Caesar" law signed by President Donald Trump last December imposed "severe economic sanctions" to hold the Assad regime and its foreign backers accountable for their brutal actions against the Syrian people.

Pompeo vowed to impose more sanctions until the Assad regime stops this war and agrees to a political solution in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2254, and he said that "much more" sanctions would be imposed in the coming weeks and months.

The first batch of sanctions included 39 people and entities, including President Bashar and his wife Asma.

The State Department said that dozens of those targeted by sanctions have obstructed a peaceful political solution, and some have "funded the atrocities of the Assad regime."

Asma al-Assad

The ministry indicated that the sanctions targeted Assad's names "because they have become one of the most beneficiaries of the Syrian war."

She emphasized that whoever deals with the Assad regime will be subject to travel restrictions and sanctions, regardless of its location in the world, noting that the campaign of American economic and political pressure on the Syrian regime will be conducted in cooperation with European partners.

The State Department said that the "Caesar" law and other penalties neither target humanitarian aid nor destabilize northeastern Syria.

Observers expect that the law called "Caesar's Law to Protect Syrian Civilians" will further tighten the screws on the Syrian regime than all previous sanctions.

"Caesar" is a pseudonym for a former photographer in the Syrian Military Police who defected from the regime in 2013, bringing with him 55,000 pictures showing torture and violations in Syrian prisons.

American lawmakers presented the bill in 2016 with the aim of "stopping the mass killing of the Syrian people, encouraging a peaceful settlement through negotiation, and holding the Syrian human rights violators accountable for their crimes."

After discussions, Congress passed the bill in December 2019, and the president signed it as part of the Defense Budget Act 2020.

Famine Warning

The application of the law coincides with the extremely difficult economic conditions in Syria, with which the value of the Syrian pound collapsed.

During a session on the Security Council on Tuesday, the UN Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pederson, said that the situation in the country is getting worse, with 9.3 million Syrians suffering from food insecurity, and there are more than two million others threatened with this, and if the situation worsens, a famine may occur. .

"In recent weeks, we have seen many Syrians express their concerns with the spread of the Corona epidemic," Pederson added.

He explained that this situation led many Syrians to demonstrate peacefully in areas such as Idlib, As-Suwayda and cities in the southwest of the country, which calls for concern over the security situation and fear of an escalation of violence.

At the same meeting, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Kraft, informed the Security Council that the "Caesar" law aims only to prevent the Assad regime from achieving a military victory, direct it toward the political process, and deny it the returns and support it used to commit atrocities.

Kraft stressed that the law contains guarantees to prevent its impact on the humanitarian aid provided to the Syrian people, and that it will be suspended if the regime stops its "shameful attacks on its people and refers all perpetrators to justice."

The US ambassador welcomed Pederson's announcement that he intends to resume the talks of the committee in charge of reviewing the Syrian constitution at the end of August in Geneva, after it stopped working months ago.

Russian-Chinese criticism

On the other hand, Moscow and Beijing criticized this American law, and Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, said that Washington affirmed that "the purpose of these measures is to overthrow the legitimate authorities in Syria."

As the Chinese ambassador to the international organization Zhang Jun said, "While weak countries - such as Syria - are fighting the pandemic (Corona), imposing more sanctions is simply inhumane, and may cause additional disasters."

In turn, the Syrian regime’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, in a speech to a separate meeting of the Human Rights Council, accused the American authorities of trying to impose its law on the world, and underestimating calls to end unilateral sanctions.

For his part, the Secretary General of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, considered that the "Caesar" law targets Lebanon and Syria, and seeks to starve and subjugate the two countries in order to surrender to Israel.

Several Syrian cities - especially Sweida in the south - are witnessing angry demonstrations after the exchange rate of the Syrian pound collapsed to 3200 against the dollar. Lebanon is also witnessing protests since last Thursday, as the Lebanese pound continues to collapse, which lost about 70% of its value since last October.