Thread by @diplocharlie

The Syrian regime asks the #US and the #EU to lift its economic sanctions to let him respond to the #coronavirus outbreak in #Syria. Let’s look at these sanctions to see what the regime wants to achieve with that. Spoiler: not assisting its population. syria.news/40b096fb-19032…

1/ Western sanctions against the Syrian regime are not preventing the regime to provide medical assistance to Syrians. There is no general embargo on #Syria. #US and #EU sanctions do NOT target the medical sector.

2/ 71 entities and 277 individuals are targeted by #EU sanctions because they are tied to the repression or funding of the regime. Sanctions also target sectors at the heart of the financial networks of the regime : weapons, tech tools for repression, crude oil import...

3/ The #US sanction regime is a bit wider than the #EU one but still doesn’t block medical trade. treasury.gov/resource-cente…

4/ The #EU and the #US sanction mechanisms also have a number of derogations for humanitarian purposes (purchase of humanitarian product, oil for humanitarian activities...)

5/ When it comes to health issues, the regime has however been weaponising medical assistance all along. Few examples (reminder: humanitarian assistance is supposed to impartial and unhindered):

i/ Blocking #UN agencies, like @WHOSyria, from shipping medical material to areas of Syria disloyal to the regime, for instance Northeastern #Syria. After the fight c/ #ISIS, medical support to civilians had to be provided outside the #UN mechanism.

ii/ The #Syria-n regime has also impeded patients with urgent medical needs from leaving besieged areas. foreignaffairs.com/articles/syria…

iii/ Using blood banks only for the #Syria-n military or to divide Syrians, into those allies who receive blood and live, and those perceived opponents who don’t, and die. foxnews.com/world/blood-an…

iv/ Between 2011 and 2016, 382 attacks on 289 hospitals, ambulances and clinics from the #Syria-n regime and #Russia have been reported. This continues today. nytimes.com/2019/10/13/wor…

6/ Sanctions are not the cause of the crisis in #Syria. The regime is. It has crushed a peaceful movement for change. It has systematically refused to negotiate a political settlement. It is blocking the work of the constitutional committee created in Sept. 2019.

7/ The regime received a month ago testing kits from @WHOSyria, and again this has not reached other circles than those loyal to the regime. So noone should be tricked by their call to lift sanctions. nytimes.com/2020/03/19/wor…