Statement by SanctionsKill and Syria Support Movement International
SanctionsKill and the Syria Support Movement welcome the statement by US president Donald Trump ordering the lifting of economic sanctions on Syria.1 As stated in the Verdict of the International People’s Tribunal on US Imperialism, economic coercive measures are:
“inherently violent, designed to maintain economic inequality, continue the theft of wealth from the Global South, and preserve racial hierarchy in the international system. Such measures are structurally incapable of reform and cannot incorporate humanitarian concerns.”2
We are opposed to all economic coercive measures and demand the lifting of all such measures on the Syrian people and on the 40 other countries subjected to imperialist sanctions.
The use of economic coercive measures is the modern equivalent of siege warfare, applied since time immemorial to subdue and subjugate populations that the besieging power wishes to eliminate or bring into submission. The 14-year siege on Syria was ultimately successful in bringing the population into submission to effect regime change. For most of that time, major portions of Syrian territory – including some of the most productive land – were occupied by three different powers: Israel, Turkiye and the US. The remainder was then isolated and starved until it fell like a house of cards to al-Qaeda and ISIS proxy forces that had been trained, supplied, and supported by these same three powers, and augmented by other NATO allies. Although Syria’s Russian and Iranian allies provided generous military support, it was impossible for them to supply all the essential education, health, nutrition, technical, and infrastructure needs in a devastated country of 23 million people.
As they did in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Libya, the forces of imperialism prevailed in Syria. Why then did it take the conquerors five months to announce that the coercive measures would be lifted? It is because they prefer to have ineffective, broken states at their mercy so that they can steal their land and resources. Although some measure of relief has been allowed to enter the country, Syrians still do not have sovereign control over their land and are not able to rebuild because many sanctions are still in effect, including the SWIFT restrictions preventing international financial transactions. The issue here is not arbitrary cash flows from the gulf monarchies, but the capacity to rebuild an economy that can engage and meet the needs of the entire population.
Without access to SWIFT, there is no possibility of foreign investment in a country and the currency falls to near zero on the dollar. Conduits for trade are closed when the currency has no value, making reconstruction after a war impossible. This is precisely the result of the Caesar Sanctions of 2019 on Syria.
Before sanctions were ramped up and the war began in 2011, Syria was more or less self-sufficient, with adequate agricultural land, oil and gas wells, and a thriving manufacturing sector. Literacy was at 86% with near universal primary enrollment. Subsidized healthcare was offered through a network of clinics and hospitals bringing the average lifespan to 74 years.
Today, more than five years after the end of the hot war, Syria is more devastated than ever as civilian infrastructure throughout the country was destroyed and could never be rebuilt due to the economic coercive measures. Today, millions of Syrians are either refugees or internally displaced people. The manufacturing sector was looted and destroyed during the war. Medical care is severely limited due to lack of medicines and facilities.
Few factories have been restored. Without manufacturing or the capacity to import goods, without power for machinery and tools to repair broken machinery, the medical sector is without equipment, general medical supplies, or medicine. Ordinary household goods are scarce and steady jobs are gone. Without access to their own oil and gas reserves, the Syrians cannot light their homes or heat them, much less operate factories and computer equipment. Gasoline is prohibitively expensive.
In 2023, a massive earthquake struck northern Syria and southern Turkiye. Aleppo was devastated. Much of the city was turned to rubble. The U.S. temporarily lifted some sanctions on “humanitarian aid” but prevented the banks from sending money into Syria by continuing to block Syria from participation in the SWIFT System. Aid had to be manually transported over closed borders. Heavy earth moving equipment is specifically banned by the sanctions. People died under the rubble while rescuers tried to remove it with their bare hands and pickaxes. Sanitation systems failed and were never restored. Meanwhile, Idlib, a Turkish protectorate governed by HTS (the successor organization of Al Qaeda in Syria) and occupied by thousands of ISIS and al Qaeda fighters, received massive amounts of aid.
Once foreign reserves were blocked and the currency crashed, investment dried up, preventing Syrians from using their own resources. Then the government could no longer support the people. It could no longer subsidize food and energy; prohibitive gas prices made moving around difficult; people starved; economic corruption increased. Trade, blocked from world markets, moved to contraband markets. The salary paid to an ordinary soldier, around $40 per month, was at times, equivalent to the price of a gallon of gas on the black market. Meanwhile, Jolani’s fighters in Idlib received $1000 per month along with training, upgraded weapons and 24-hour power during the same period.
It is instructive to note that of approximately 8 million Syrian refugees forced from their homeland during the war, few have celebrated by returning home. The exceptions are those affiliated with al-Qaeda, ISIS, and the Muslim Brotherhood, who see kindred spirits in the current leadership. The majority of Syrians who remain do not share their fanatical religious beliefs. Alawite and Shiite Muslims, Druze, Christians, and even secular Muslims are being subjected to genocidal massacres. This should surprise no one, since it is merely a continuation of the slaughter of these minorities in territories held by the “Syrian opposition” during the war. The “democratic” imperialist sponsors of the carnage have had no problem with such crimes, and have helped to hide them from the western public in order to further their ambitions.
Currently, aid is flowing into Damascus from the gulf states but little aid has reached the countryside. Pogroms against minorities are ongoing. The new government is overriding educational and legal support for the religious and ethnic tolerance that has developed in Syria over millennia, while foreign soldiers who are terrorizing minorities are being absorbed into the society.
All who care about human rights and the protection and well-being of civilian populations, as well as the national rights of sovereignty, independence and self-determination, must demand respect for these values in all of Syria. This must include all foreign-occupied territories as well as the areas held by illegitimate groups that are exercising authority in the rest of the country. Syria deserves a government that is supported by its people, not merely one that has seized power with imperial support. Real justice also demands reparations from all the powers that have destroyed Syria.
But first, end the sanctions. All of them. Everywhere.
1 Since the sanctions imposed on Syria were not imposed by the UN Security Council, they are called Unilateral Coercive Measures (UCMs), which are illegal under the UN Charter. However, even economic coercive measures imposed by the Security Council impose collective punishment, making them illegal under the Geneva Conventions. They are also extremely difficult to remove and cause the same devastation to the populations of the target countries as UCMs.