... in the world ranking (see the table compiled by the author based on data for 18 and 23 October 2020, taken from
coronavirus-control.ru
):
COVID-19 in Syria and Neighbouring Countries
The good indicators are partly explained by the fact that wartime Syria under sanctions has been a closed country compared to the more open Israel, Lebanon and Turkey, this reducing the objective risk of infection. Even after Damascus International Airport (which had not functioned since March) was opened on October 1, 2020, the ...
... doing business with them.
To date, the United Kingdom’s sanctions regime established post-Brexit effectively parallels the EU
sanctions regime.
There are legal constraints on the U.S. executive branch in lifting some, but not all, U.S. sanctions
on Syria. For sanctions enacted pursuant to the Caesar Act and certain other U.S. statutes, the
executive branch must issue waivers and/or certify that Syria has met certain specified criteria prior
to suspending or terminating the sanctions. The legal structure of ...
... has to manoeuvre between Moscow and Tehran, as they pursue different interests. Iran banks on proxy militias as it advances its influence “beyond the Syrian state” as part of its anti-Israel “Shia Crescent” project. These actions open up the Syrians to U.S. sanctions and make them a target of Israel’s surgical strikes. They also allow Tehran to claim a special role in the reconstruction effort, which, once again, prompts a harsher retaliation from the United States. Russia, on the contrary, is interested ...
... sanctions do not affect the political course of Damascus itself, among whose key task is the holding of the presidential elections in 2021.
New sanctions have been prepared by the US Congress, which actually means their irreversibility. Unlike the EU sanctions against Syria, which are extended annually, the US sanctions have been passed for five years. The law came into force six months after it was passed by the US Congress, where the “Caesar Act” was
included
in the “National Defense Authorization Act for ...
... the U.S. is going to define "humanitarian aid" or "reconstruction," depending on who is providing this aid and to whom. This uncertainty doesn't help humanitarians working in Syria. Moscow has been long advocating for unilateral sanctions relief from Syria to help humanitarian and economic revival. Although it seems unrealistic, discussions on the quid pro quo approach to sanctions relief and concessions from the government in Damascus look like the only possible way to move forward.
In this context,...
... Organisation had no information about Huthi-controlled areas of Yemen, including the number of COVID-19 cases. Overcrowded city centres, prisons and camps for refugees and displaced persons are seen as the source of the infection.
Ivan Timofeev:
The Price of Sanctions is Human Lives
Syria is a special case in the general picture of Middle Eastern conflicts amid the coronavirus pandemic. The outcome of the internal confrontation will have far-reaching consequences. If compromise solutions are found, a settled Syrian conflict might ...
... help, even
gratis
, will have to apply for special licences and wait for the approval of regulators. Even NGOs can be hit by sanctions. The alternative is smuggling and semi-legal schemes, which increase costs several times over, and are fraught with ... ... danger of criminal prosecution.
Other countries face a similar situation. The first COVID-19 cases have been registered in Syria, a country that is in a state of war. The strict oil embargo has resulted in a shortage of petrol, which is needed by both ...
... the decree. The American property of sanctioned organisations and individuals, according to the decree, was frozen, and their entry into the United States was prohibited.
Ruslan Mamedov:
Troubled Partners: What Russia and Turkey are Dividing Up in Syria
In other words, despite the limited application, sanctions against Turkey have reached a new institutional level. Now they are regulated by a separate executive order, and US departments can at any time blacklist new individuals and legal entities. Of course, the executive order is reversible. If the ...
... Gibraltar have extended the detention of the tanker for two weeks, increasing the chances that the crisis will develop further.
Ivan Timofeev:
Tanker Incidents: Who Blinks First?
The reason for the detention of the tanker was its alleged violation of EU sanctions against Syria. In numerous media publications, this allegation is presented as self-evident. Meanwhile, the reference to EU sanctions raises serious questions. Indeed, Brussels has imposed broad-based economic restrictions on Bashar Assad’s government. Most ...
Russia should not necessarily wait for the Europeans to join its rebuilding efforts
As the United States eyes
new sanctions
on Syria, Russia increasingly finds it needs to work out solutions that would nonetheless push forward the post-conflict reconstruction in the country the way Moscow envisions them.
Syria has been subject to legislatively mandated US penalties since the ...
