A deadly cholera outbreak compounds the misery of war-weary Syrians

Syria’s cholera outbreak has affected the country’s poorest people. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 03 November 2022
Follow

A deadly cholera outbreak compounds the misery of war-weary Syrians

  • WHO believes the current outbreak was caused by the public consumption of polluted water from the Euphrates
  • Syria’s health infrastructure has crumbled as a result of aid embargoes, sanctions and war damage

DUBAI/QAMISHLI, Syria: After more than 11 years of war, destruction, displacement and hunger, Syrians now face a new horror: Cholera. The disease, caused by contaminated food and water, has spread across several parts of the country in recent months and has already claimed lives.

Cholera, which has been largely eliminated in the developed world, causes diarrhea and vomiting, leading to rapid dehydration, which can kill within hours without prompt treatment. The number of cases in Syria has been steadily on the rise since the summer.

The World Health Organization recorded 24,614 infections and 81 deaths between August to the end of October, with Deir Ezzor, Raqqa, Aleppo and Hasakah witnessing the highest concentrations, while camps for the internally displaced have reported 65 cases.




A child suffering from cholera receives treatment at the Al-Kasrah hospital in Syria's eastern province of Deir Ezzor. (AFP)

Parts of Syria, especially the far-flung governorates, have been facing a water crisis since most water and sewerage infrastructure was destroyed as a result of the civil war that erupted in 2011.

WHO believes the current outbreak was likely caused by the consumption of polluted water from the Euphrates River. Drought, the overpumping of groundwater, and new dams built upstream in Turkey have reduced the once mighty river to a trickle.

Falling water levels have created swamps and stagnant pools along the riverbanks, where raw sewage and other contaminants have collected and festered — the ideal conditions for water- and mosquito-borne diseases to develop.

Jwan Mustafa, co-chair of the Health Board of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), said the first case of cholera was recorded in the region in September, spreading from Deir Ezzor to Raqqa and later to Hasakah further to the north.

“Our recent statistics based on rapid testing confirm 15,000 cases and 30 deaths,” Mustafa told Arab News. “The pollution in the Euphrates River has been the main cause of plenty of prior viruses and diseases. And now cholera.

“People in the area rely on the river to drink, water their plants and for agriculture. The area by the river is considered the breadbasket of northeast Syria. When Hasakah faces a drought, it relies on the Euphrates’ water, which spells disaster for the governorate.

“We’ve started taking measures to attempt to contain the spread of the disease. Groups have been tasked with adding chlorine to water tanks in attempt to purify them.”




Syrians in Deir Ezzor are forced to use contaminated sections of the Euphrates River for drinking water and irrigation. (AFP)

Authorities are encouraging the public in cholera hotspots to first boil their water before drinking, cooking or watering their crops, to treat water tanks, pipes and other vessels with chlorine, and to regularly wash their hands and sanitize surfaces. 

However, given Syria’s crumbling infrastructure, the flight of skilled workers abroad and shortages of basic chemicals and equipment, even these simple preventative measures are difficult to implement. 

“The deterioration of the infrastructure has greatly impacted the health sector,” said Mustafa. “We struggle to contain diseases because we lack the resources and expertise. A simple virus can very easily become an epidemic in the region. We are short on laboratories and medications.”

Syria’s health infrastructure has suffered under a devastating mix of aid embargoes, sanctions and war damage. Throughout the civil war, the regime of Bashar Assad has systematically destroyed hospitals in rebel-held areas in defiance of international humanitarian law.

FASTFACTS

• Some 29 countries have reported cholera outbreaks since January of this year.

• Afghanistan, Pakistan and Haiti are among those affected besides Syria and Lebanon.

• UNICEF urgently needs $40.5 million to expand its emergency cholera response in Syria and Lebanon alone.

• The money will support health, water, hygiene and sanitation, risk communication and community engagement.

Meanwhile, deliveries of foreign aid to areas beyond the regime’s control have been deliberately blocked or diverted.

Since June 2021, when regime ally Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution allowing eastern Syria to continue receiving cross-border support via Iraq, all UN aid to the region must first pass through Damascus.

This has resulted in severe shortages of medical supplies, poor coordination between health authorities, and limited testing capacity in eastern Syria.

For the people of Raqqa, the outbreak of cholera is only the latest in a litany of crises they are forced to face alone.




A woman suffering from cholera receives treatment at the Al-Kasrah hospital in Syria's eastern province of Deir Ezzor. (AFP)

“The Syrian regime is not helping. People are already feeling haggard and depressed from the daily struggles brought on by the war,” Ahmad, a community activist in Raqqa who declined to give his full name, told Arab News.

“We know we are in trouble, but we also know help will not come from the Syrian regime. We know aid will not come locally or internationally. People do not care anymore. The cholera doesn’t faze us. We’ve been dying from war, chemical weapons and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We often muse how our lives have become Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s book: ‘Love in the time of cholera,’” he added.




“Cholera doesn’t know borders and lines of control, and spreads along population movements,” said Bertrand Bainvel, UNICEF deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa. (Supplied)

In response to the cholera outbreak, Doctors Without Borders, in cooperation with local health officials in Raqqa, has established a local treatment center and two outpatient clinics in the AANES.

However, maintaining adequate food hygiene and access to clean drinking water has become increasingly difficult for most Syrians since the onset of the economic crisis and the currency collapse of 2019, which were compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the spiraling price of food and fuel since the outbreak of war in Ukraine earlier this year.

According to the World Food Programme, the average price of food items in Syria has risen 532 percent since 2020. As a result, some 12 million people still living in Syria are now considered food insecure.

“Goods have become unattainable,” said Ahmad. “Talk on the street is that death is the best escape. And it will come, if not from cholera or COVID-19, then from hunger.”




A Syrian boy carries a bucket of water at the Sahlah Al-Banat camp for displaced people in the countryside of Raqa, in northern Syria. (AFP)

Conditions in neighboring Lebanon, where millions of Syrians have sought refuge in crowded camps since the outbreak of civil war, are not much better.

Already grappling with its own unprecedented economic crisis, which has thrown 80 percent of its citizens into poverty and left its infrastructure in tatters, Lebanon has also recorded cases of cholera.

Firass Abiad, Lebanon’s health minister, confirmed on Tuesday that the country had recorded 17 cholera deaths and 93 hospitalizations nationwide, including cases in the capital Beirut.

The government is trying to secure 600,000 vaccine doses for the most vulnerable, including prisoners, frontline workers and refugees residing in cramped and often squalid camps.

For most Syrians and Lebanese, who must foot their own medical bills amid rising prices and shattered health infrastructure, the omens are not good.

“I don’t even know where to start. If I get infected I don’t know if I can afford or even have a hospital bed ready for me,” Lina, a Lebanese citizen living in Akkar, a poverty-stricken area of northern Lebanon, told Arab News.

“Life has become unbearably difficult. But, at the end of the day, it’s just another way to die.”


Egypt’s alternative to Trump’s ‘Gaza Riviera’ aims to sideline Hamas

Updated 04 March 2025
Follow

Egypt’s alternative to Trump’s ‘Gaza Riviera’ aims to sideline Hamas

  • The draft said the board would comprise key Arab countries, members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the United States, Britain, the European Union and its member states, and others
  • The Egyptian draft does not tackle the issue of what actions could be taken if Hamas refuses to disarm or step aside from politics

DOHA: A plan for Gaza drawn up by Egypt as a counter to US President Donald Trump’s ambition for a Middle East Riviera would sideline Hamas and replace it with interim bodies controlled by Arab, Muslim and Western states, according to a draft seen by Reuters.
The Egyptian vision for Gaza, which is due to be presented at an Arab League summit on Tuesday, does not specify whether the proposal would be implemented before or after any permanent peace deal to end the war triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.
Trump’s plan, which envisioned clearing Gaza of its Palestinian inhabitants, appeared to back away from long-standing US Middle East policy focused on a two-state solution and sparked anger among Palestinians and Arab nations.

Palestinian children gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, March 3, 2025. (REUTERS)

Who will run Gaza after the conflict remains the great unanswered question in negotiations over the future of the enclave. Hamas has so far rejected the idea of any proposal being imposed on Palestinians by other states.
Cairo’s plan does not tackle critical issues such as who will foot the bill for Gaza’s reconstruction or outline any specific details around how Gaza would be governed, nor how an armed group as powerful as Hamas would be pushed aside.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Egypt's draft Gaza plan has no role for Hamas - draft proposal

• Arab states seek to counter Trump's Gaza vision

• Governance Assistance Mission would replace Hamas-run government International Stabilisation Force would provide security

Under the Egyptian plan, a Governance Assistance Mission would replace the Hamas-run government in Gaza for an unspecified interim period and would be responsible for humanitarian aid and for kick-starting reconstruction of the enclave, which has been devastated by the war.
“There will be no major international funding for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Gaza if Hamas remains the dominant and armed political element on the ground controlling local governance,” a preamble outlining the draft Egyptian plan’s objectives said.

A Palestinian Hamas militant shakes hands with a child as they stand guard as people gather on the day of the handover of hostages. (REUTERS)

Details of Egypt’s proposed framework for Gaza’s future have not been previously reported.
Egypt, Jordan and Gulf Arab states have for almost a month been scrambling to formulate a diplomatic offensive to counter Trump’s plan. A number of ideas have been proposed, with Egypt’s considered the frontrunner.
Reuters was unable to determine whether Arab leaders would support the plan presented by Egypt.
The plan does not specify who would run the governance mission. It said it would, “draw on the expertise of Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere to help Gaza recover as quickly as possible.”
The draft proposal was shared with Reuters by an official involved in Gaza negotiations who wished to remain anonymous because the draft has not yet been made public.
The plan firmly rejects the US proposal for mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, which Arab states such as Egypt and Jordan see as a security threat.
“President Trump has been clear that Hamas cannot continue to govern Gaza,” White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said when asked about Egypt’s Gaza plan and whether the US would support it.
“While the President stands by his bold vision for a post-war Gaza, he welcomes input from our Arab partners in the region. It’s clear his proposals have driven the region to come to the table rather than allow this issue to devolve into further crisis,” Hughes said.

STABILISATION FORCE
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters the group knows of no such proposal by Egypt.
“The day after in Gaza must only be decided by the Palestinians,” he said. “Hamas rejects any attempt to impose projects or any form of non-Palestinian administration, or the presence of any foreign forces on the land of the Gaza Strip.”
The Egyptian draft does not mention future elections.
Egypt’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the office of Israel’s prime minister, whose support for any plan is seen as vital to secure a commitment that any future reconstruction will not be destroyed again.
Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has ruled the coastal enclave since 2007. It launched the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and started the Gaza war.
A January 19 ceasefire brought a temporary end to the fighting but the first phase of the deal expired on Saturday with no sign of an agreement to move to the second phase.
The Egyptian draft does not tackle the issue of what actions could be taken if Hamas refuses to disarm or step aside from politics.
The proposal envisions an International Stabilization Force drawn primarily from Arab states that would take over the role of providing security from the militant group, with the eventual establishment of a new local police force.
Both security and governance bodies would be “arranged, guided and supervised” by a steering board. The draft said the board would comprise key Arab countries, members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the United States, Britain, the European Union and its member states, and others.
The plan does not detail a central governing role for the Palestinian Authority (PA), which opinion polls show has little support among Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
A Palestinian official told Reuters that, like the West Bank, Gaza falls under the PA’s jurisdiction — and it must be run by Palestinians.
“We agreed with the Egyptians on a committee made of Palestinian experts that will help the Palestinian Authority in running the Gaza Strip for six months. The committee is made of Palestinian experts and coordinates with the PA, and doesn’t answer to non-Palestinian bodies,” said the official, who asked not to be named for sensitivity.

RECONSTRUCTION BILL
Since Hamas drove the Palestinian Authority out of Gaza after a brief civil war in 2007, it has crushed all opposition there. Supported by Iran, it built an extensive security apparatus and military organization based around a vast network of tunnels — much of which Israel says it has now destroyed.
The plan does not say who would pay to rebuild Gaza, a bill estimated by the UN at more than $53 billion. Two sources have told Reuters that Gulf and Arab states would need to commit at least $20 billion in the initial phase of reconstruction.
Egypt’s proposal envisions that states on the steering board could establish a fund to support the interim governing body and arrange donor conferences to seek contributions for a longer-term reconstruction and development plan for Gaza.
The plan does not contain any specific financial pledges.
Oil- and gas-producing Gulf Arab states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates could be vital sources of funding from the region.
The United Arab Emirates, for instance, sees Hamas and other militant groups as an existential threat and is unlikely to offer any funding until Hamas has been sidelined.
The foreign ministries in Qatar and the UAE and Saudi Arabia’s international media office did not immediately respond to requests for comment about Egypt’s plan, or to questions about their willingness to commit funds to rebuild Gaza.
The draft plan also calls on the steering board to coordinate with a Civil Society Advisory Board, consisting of academics, NGO leaders and other notable figures.

 

 


Gaza aid stockpiles limited after Israel cuts flows, aid groups warn

Updated 04 March 2025
Follow

Gaza aid stockpiles limited after Israel cuts flows, aid groups warn

  • Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres warned that the suspension of aid will add significant pressure on the two million Palestinians in the enclave who are still suffering from shortages of essential goods following 16 months of war
  • The subsequent Israeli campaign has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, displaced almost all of its 2.3 million population and left Gaza a wasteland

GENEVA: Food, medicine and shelter stockpiles in Gaza are limited and aid intended for Palestinians in desperate need may spoil following Israel’s suspension of deliveries to the enclave, humanitarian agencies said on Monday.
Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks into Gaza on Sunday as a standoff over the truce that has halted fighting for the past six weeks escalated.
“Much of what has come in over the past few weeks has already been distributed...Now, already we are seeing price increases,” a UN official in Gaza told Reuters.
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres warned that the suspension of aid will add significant pressure on the two million Palestinians in the enclave who are still suffering from shortages of essential goods following 16 months of war. Israel has previously accused Hamas of hijacking aid, which the group denied.
“Any further challenges to access to food and access to clean water could have devastating consequences. The spike in food and good prices is creating fear and uncertainty,” Caroline Seguin, MSF emergency coordinator, in Gaza told Reuters.
Salama Marouf, head of the Gaza government media office, said enough food was in markets for at least two weeks and urged Gazans not to panic.

LOGISTICAL IMPACT
More than 300 trucks loaded with aid were stopped from crossing the border from Egypt on Sunday, according to the International Federation of the Red Cross.
Its five warehouses in Egypt that stock food, water and medicines are currently at 50 percent capacity and expiry dates are being checked.
“We have warehouse capacity for now, but we cannot be sure how long that will continue,” operations coordinator for the IFRC in Egypt, Jurgen Hogl, told Reuters.
Medecins Sans Frontieres has 14 trucks of aid shipments in Egypt and Jordan, mainly medical supplies, waiting to be shipped into Gaza.
“We are concerned that if drug supplies would be maintained in trucks for months at end, and exposed to the sun, it could shorten the lifespan of medicines and decrease the efficiency of the drugs,” said Seguin.
The Norwegian Refugee Council warned it could reach a point that agencies halt shipments of aid altogether, as was the case when aid was restricted at the beginning of the war.
“It’s costly for us to keep aid in warehouses or packed up on trucks, waiting in queues,” NRC spokesperson Shaina Low told Reuters.
Phase two talks to negotiate a final end to the war have barely begun. Israel, while announcing the halt to aid entry, said it will not allow a ceasefire without the release of all remaining hostages. Hamas has denounced Israel’s move as “blackmail” and a “blatant coup against the agreement.”
Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killed 1,200 people, and 251 people were taken into Gaza as hostages. The subsequent Israeli campaign has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, displaced almost all of its 2.3 million population and left Gaza a wasteland.

 


Morocco activist gets six-month sentence for online post: lawyer

Fouad Abdelmoumni. (Supplied)
Updated 04 March 2025
Follow

Morocco activist gets six-month sentence for online post: lawyer

  • In his Facebook post last year, Abdelmoumni echoed accusations of Moroccan espionage against France

RABAT: A Moroccan court on Monday sentenced activist Fouad Abdelmoumni to six months in prison for “spreading false allegations” and other charges related to a post he had shared on Facebook, said his lawyer.
Abdelmoumni, a human rights advocate, was taken into custody in late October after alleging online that Morocco had spied against France, but released after a two-day detention.
His lawyer, Mohamed Nouini, told AFP that Abdelmoumni will only be imprisoned if a higher court upholds Monday’s verdict issued in Casablanca.
“He should have been prosecuted under the Press Code, which does not provide for prison sentences, rather than the Penal Code,” Nouini said.
The charges against Abdelmoumni include “spreading false allegations,” “defamation” and “insulting public bodies.”
In his Facebook post last year, Abdelmoumni echoed accusations of Moroccan espionage against France.
“France, which sees its position decline among all nations, would not want to give in to the blackmail of a weak state which uses all the means of pressure at its disposal... including espionage,” Abdelmoumni wrote at the time.
Prosecutors argued that his statements constituted “allegations harmful to the kingdom’s interests” and went “beyond the limits of freedom of expression, amounting to criminal offenses punishable by law.”
Abdelmoumni shared the post during a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron, which had marked a thawing of diplomatic ties between Rabat and Paris after three years of strained relations, partially over the espionage allegations.
In 2021, Morocco was accused of deploying Israeli-made Pegasus spyware to monitor prominent figures including Macron.
The allegations were based on a report by investigative outlet Forbidden Stories and rights group Amnesty International, which Morocco called “baseless and false.”
The spyware, developed by Israeli firm NSO Group, can infiltrate mobile phones, extracting data and activating cameras.
 

 


Tunisia rescues 64 migrants off eastern Mediterranean coast

Updated 04 March 2025
Follow

Tunisia rescues 64 migrants off eastern Mediterranean coast

TUNIS: Authorities in Tunisia say 64 migrants were rescued from a boat that capsized off the country’s eastern Mediterranean coast after running out of fuel.

The country’s national customs agency said in a statement that maritime patrols sent to the capsized vessel rescued 64 people of various nationalities off the coast of Mahdia on Friday evening. No deaths were reported.

“The rescued migrants were trying to cross by boat toward the European space illegally,” the customs agency said.

Initial findings of the investigation suggest that the migrants had set off from an unnamed neighboring country, likely to be Libya.

The migrants were taken to the port of Chebba, 60 km north of Sfax, for further investigation.

More than 30,000 migrants set sail from Libya and arrived in Italy in 2024, according to UNHCR. 

The UN refugee agency said 61 percent of those arriving in Italy by sea came from Libya, followed by 32 percent from Tunisia.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration estimates that more than 100 migrants have died or gone missing in the central Mediterranean off the coast of Tunisia and Libya since the beginning of 2025. 

There is no official data about the actual number of migrants living in Libya.


Why sanctions relief is critical to Syria’s recovery and political future

Updated 04 March 2025
Follow

Why sanctions relief is critical to Syria’s recovery and political future

  • Syria’s recovery hinges on Western leaders conditioning sanctions relief on key reforms by the interim government
  • Until US-led sanctions are lifted, the fragile nation is at risk of plunging into renewed conflict, experts warn

LONDON: Ahead of the Syrian Arab Republic’s national dialogue held in Damascus on Feb. 25, the EU made an important gesture of goodwill by agreeing to lift a portion of the sanctions imposed on the now-deposed Bashar Assad regime.

However, the full and sustained lifting of all sanctions on Syria is yet to be assured, as Western leaders are currently not convinced that an inclusive administration — willing to implement much-needed reforms — is on the cards.

The EU announced on Feb. 24 that it has suspended restrictions on Syria’s oil, gas, electricity, and transport sectors with immediate effect, while also easing its ban on banking ties to allow transactions for humanitarian aid, reconstruction, energy, and transport.

In addition, five financial entities — the Industrial Bank, Popular Credit Bank, Saving Bank, Agricultural Cooperative Bank, and Syrian Arab Airlines — have been removed from the asset freeze list, allowing funds to reach Syria’s central bank.

The decision came a day before Syria’s interim government launched its national dialogue, where President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who was appointed in December to lead until March 1, pledged to form an inclusive transitional government.

Aid agencies and economists warn that further delays in lifting sanctions could do more harm than good. (AFP)

Al-Sharaa and his armed group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, which overthrew the Assad regime on Dec. 8 following a lightning offensive from its stronghold in Idlib, touted the forum as a crucial step toward democracy and reconstruction.

Although critics said preparations for the event had been rushed, it attracted around 600 delegates and marked an important step toward drafting a new constitution, the reform of institutions, and a road map for the economy.

For these aims to succeed, however, rights groups and experts have called for sanctions on Syria, especially US restrictions, to be lifted as a vital prerequisite for economic, social, and political recovery.

“Lifting sanctions is crucial at this moment to promote a stable and peaceful political transition in Syria,” Nanar Hawach, senior Syria analyst at the International Crisis Group, told Arab News.

Ibrahim Al-Assil, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, likewise stressed that “rebuilding Syria’s middle class is essential for any meaningful political transition” — a goal that cannot be achieved without first lifting sanctions.

“Economic devastation limits Syrians’ ability to engage in the political transition,” Al-Assil told Arab News.

Emphasizing that sanctions have “severely damaged” Syria’s economy and “crippled society’s ability to function,” Al-Assil warned that “prolonging sanctions risks undermining the country’s fragile transition and could doom efforts to establish a stable and inclusive future.

“Syrians need support, not continued economic restrictions, to move forward,” he added.

Likewise, the New York-based monitor Human Rights Watch has warned that Western sanctions are “hindering reconstruction efforts and exacerbating the suffering of millions of Syrians struggling to access critical rights, including to electricity and an adequate standard of living.”

In a statement in February, the monitor said more than half of Syrians lacked access to nutritious food, while at least 16.5 million were in need of humanitarian aid.

Syrian children fill their buckets with water at a camp for internally displaced people near Sarmada, in the northern Syrian province Idlib. (AFP)

“It’s very difficult to say how bad the situation is,” Karam Shaar, a senior fellow at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, told Arab News.

“Without either lifting sanctions or being provided with an injection of funding from abroad, as Qatar has promised, the situation could implode at any moment.”

Concerns over continued US sanctions recently led Qatar to delay pledged funds to support Syria’s public sector, which had been promised a 400 percent pay raise.

The EU has likewise been cautious, saying in its Feb. 24 statement that the continuation of sanctions relief hinges on the interim government’s performance. The bloc warned that sanctions could be reinstated if Syria’s new authorities do not implement reforms.

“If everything does not go right, then we are also ready to put the sanctions back,” said the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas. She said that “any kind of government needs to be all-inclusive and take into account all the different groups that are in Syria.”

And while a technocratic government was not established as expected on March 1, Al-Sharaa announced on March 2 the creation of a seven-member committee to draft a temporary constitution.

“Syria’s new leader faces the formidable challenge of navigating the expectations of both liberal and ultraconservative factions,” Syrian-Canadian analyst Camille Otrakji told Arab News.

“While Al-Sharaa’s personal leanings align with the conservatives, he cannot afford to dismiss the strong recommendations from his Western and moderate Arab interlocutors.

“Thus far, however, his response has been largely symbolic — appointing Christian representatives to committees and inviting minority groups to dialogue sessions,” he added, stressing that “symbolic gestures will not suffice.”

Media reports suggest the government’s formation could be delayed until the last week of March or beyond, potentially postponing decisions to ease more sanctions.

Aid agencies and economists warn that further delays in lifting sanctions could do more harm than good, particularly during this critical transition.

Tents housing Syrian refugees are pictured at a camp in Arsal in eastern Lebanon before being dismantled and returning to Syria. (AFP)

“Rather than take a ‘wait and see’ attitude toward lifting the sanctions, which may squander today’s long-awaited opportunity for a new Syria, Western governments should lift the sanctions now, conditioned on Syria continuing in a rights-respecting direction,” Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, told Arab News.

“While there has been some easing of sanctions, particularly for humanitarian aid, the continuing sanctions are a big impediment to economic progress.”

Roth, author of “Righting Wrongs,” which opens with a chapter on Syria’s Idlib, cautioned that “while we celebrate the demise of the brutal Assad regime, Syria remains in a precarious position.”

Echoing Roth’s concerns, Syrian economic adviser Humam Aljazaeri also said the restrictions should be lifted sooner rather than later.

“We understand the position of the international community to attach the lifting of sanctions to political progress — especially to cross towards representative government — but at some point, it might just be too late,” he told Arab News.

Hawach of the International Crisis Group warned that without easing economic and trade restrictions, the country risks renewed fighting.

“After more than a decade of conflict, the new leadership faces daunting challenges in rebuilding institutions and stabilizing the economy,” he said. “If Syria has any chance of succeeding, it needs sanctions relief, otherwise, the country risks falling into renewed cycles of violence and conflict.”

Noting that while “European efforts to ease sanctions are a step in the right direction,” Al-Assil of the Middle East Institute said “US sanctions remain the most significant obstacle.

Syria’s interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa visiting locals at a camp sheltering people displaced by the country’s civil war. (AFP)

“Without their removal, other governments and financial institutions will hesitate to engage with Syria,” he said.

Syria has been under Western sanctions for more than four decades, with the most severe imposed after the Assad regime’s crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011 and later the reported use of chemical weapons against civilians.

These sanctions included broad restrictions on trade, financial transactions, and key industries, in addition to targeted asset freezes and travel bans.

The strictest sanctions are enforced by the US, banning almost all trade and financial transactions with Damascus, except for limited humanitarian aid. The Caesar Act, introduced in 2019, extended these restrictions to foreign companies doing business with the ousted regime.

After more than 13 years of civil war, some 90 percent of the population has been driven below the poverty line. The fighting damaged schools, hospitals, roads, water systems, and power grids, crippling public services and sending the economy into freefall.

Even after Assad’s 24-year rule collapsed on Dec. 8, the bulk of US, EU, and UK sanctions have remained in place, hobbling the postwar recovery.

On Jan. 6, the US Treasury issued Syria General License No. 24 (GL 24), allowing transactions with the transitional Syrian government, easing restrictions on energy-related transactions within Syria, and permitting transactions necessary for processing personal remittances.

GL 24, set to expire July 7, 2025, may be extended as the US government monitors the evolving situation in Syria, the Treasury said in a client alert on Feb. 27.

INNUMBERS

• $250bn Projected cost of Syria’s reconstruction.

• $923bn Estimated cost of the Syrian civil war.

(Sources: HRW and UNDP)

“What would be the most important, in my opinion, is re-enabling financial transactions with Syria,” said Shaar of the New Lines Institute. “At the moment, we’ve seen GL 24 from the US. We’ve seen suspensions and carve-outs from the EU.

“However, none of them is sufficient to replug the Syrian banking sector into the rest of the world. And I think this is the main vein.”

Otrakji is skeptical about any significant easing of US sanctions happening soon. “Any major rollback remains improbable in the near term,” he said.

“Historical precedent suggests that sanctions, once in place, tend to endure — those imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait remained largely intact for two decades, with only partial relief granted in 2010 and further easing in 2013.”

Despite concerns that linking sanctions relief to the interim government’s performance may be counterproductive, Western officials want to see the HTS-led administration follow through on promises of inclusive governance and protections for all Syrian ethnic and religious groups.

Many Alawites, Christians, Druze, and Kurds fear for their future amid reports of reprisals and sectarian killings since the HTS and its allies seized power.

“Al-Sharaa has been saying many inclusive, rights-respecting things,” said former Human Rights Watch chief Roth. “However, we all know that he has an extremist background and that there are many jihadists within the HTS rebel force that toppled Assad.”

Easing sanctions is vital for Syria’s recovery and helping its population overcome a decade of economic devastation. (AFP)

HTS, which evolved from the Nusra Front, is designated a terrorist group under UN Security Council Resolution 2254, adopted in 2015. Formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda, the group later broke ties with the extremists and Al-Sharaa has since advocated coexistence.

“The question is which way Al-Sharaa proceeds,” Roth said. “His ability to resist extremist pressure will depend significantly on whether he can deliver basic economic improvements to the long-suffering Syrian people, but the continuing sanctions, meant for Assad, not the new government, stand in the way.”

While US-led sanctions were aimed at preventing the ousted regime from committing human rights violations, they worsened conditions for ordinary Syrians. And their continuation after Assad’s fall has only deepened the crisis.

Prior to Assad’s downfall, support from his political allies — mainly Iran and Russia — provided some sustenance to the war-devastated nation. But a shift in this dynamic over the past three months may have created a vacuum, making the swift lifting of Western sanctions all the more critical.

“Before its fall, the regime was reliant on a network of traders, cronies, and political support of its allies to evade sanctions,” Syrian economic adviser Aljazaeri said, explaining that “this enabled the government to sustain some kind of economic stability, not least through the continuous flow of energy resources.

Security forces reporting to Syria's transitional government patrol the streets of Dummar, a suburb of the Syrian capitial Damascus. (AFP)

“Although this stability was increasingly compromised by growing corruption and failed economic policies, especially after 2019, it nonetheless helped sustain the status quo.”

He added: “Today, in the absence of such network and cronies, whether to sustain the flow of money or commodities, not least energy resources (and wheat), and despite the wide political support of the current administration, the economy and subsequently the social and political stability is put at growing risk of fragmentation.

“Against this backdrop, lifting sanctions, even gradually, but substantially though, is absolutely critical to achieving some balance.”

Hawach of the International Crisis Group also believes easing sanctions is vital for Syria’s recovery and helping its population overcome a decade of economic devastation.

He said: “Easing these restrictions would not only boost economic recovery and reduce the reliance on the informal economy, but also strengthen governance, providing Syrians with better living conditions and more opportunities.

“For the Syrian people, lifting sanctions would mean tangible improvements in their daily lives.”

Although analyst Otrakji agrees that lifting sanctions is crucial for Syria’s recovery, he stressed that it alone “will not be enough to reconstruct the damaged country and its society.

“The new administration in Damascus must take the first decisive move — but doing so carries significant risks,” he said, adding that any failed attempt to chart a new course will “expose deep divisions among Syrians, who remain polarized and bitter after 14 years of conflict.”