Mounting concerns that the implementation of the U.S. Caesar sanctions will negatively affect civilians are somewhat justified.
Loyalists and opposition alike have attacked Caesar sanctions for contributing to the deepening impoverishment of some of the Syrian people and preventing economic recovery and reconstruction efforts. However, the sanctions will, in fact, block luxury developments like Marota City in southern Damascus, but they will not affect the already collapsed Syrian pound, due to the lack of natural resources and the exhausting military spending at the expense of the other sectors.
The U.S. Caesar Civilian Protection Act is seen as punitive procedure against Bashar al-Assad’s regime for war crimes against the Syrian people, a nod to the pseudonym used by the Syrian Military Police photographer who leaked around 55,000 photographs of systemic torture and killing in detention centers.
Sanctions on Syria have sought to achieve this objective by freezing the assets of the Syrian state and targeting dozens of companies and individuals, particularly government figures, military and security personnel, and entities allegedly involved in the manufacture or use of chemical weapons. The U.S. sanctions on Syria have also restricted new investments, exports, sales, or the supply of services to Syria by any American citizen or resident.
The objective of the new legislation, entitled the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), as the text of the Caesar Act itself states: “It is the policy of the United States that diplomatic and coercive economic means should be utilized to compel the government of Bashar al-Assad to halt its murderous attacks on the Syrian people and to support a transition to a government in Syria that respects the rule of law, human rights, and peaceful co-existence with its neighbors.”
The new legislation expands on the previous sanctions by directing sanctions against Syrian government institutions, as well as individuals who do business with Damascus.
Prior to passing the Caesar legislation, the Trump administration had to rely on verbal threats to discourage European and Gulf governments from re-engaging politically with Damascus, or investing in regime-controlled areas. The Caesar sanctions provide a stronger deterrent to international engagement with the Assad government, especially economic and financial.
The legislation provides for sanctions against anyone who “knowingly, directly or indirectly, provides significant construction or engineering services to the government of Syria.” Under the legislation, the Trump administration can further sanction any international company or individual that invests in Syria’s energy or aviation sectors, as well as anyone who lends funds to the regime (s.102).
Recognizing the potentially negative impacts of sanctions on civilians, Section 302 of the Caesar Act provides for humanitarian exemptions. It allows the President (US) to waive the application of any sanction with regard to NGOs providing humanitarian assistance in Syria.
However, banks, insurance and shipping companies, sellers providing humanitarian goods often refuse to do business with humanitarian NGOs due to concerns about inadvertently violating U.S. or international sanctions.
By Mozen Murshid
Zaman Al Wasl
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