Syria on Tuesday lambasted the United States for blocking humanitarian relief work in Syria, a day after massive earthquakes rocked the northern part of the country and vast swathes of its neighbor Türkiye.
In a statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said that Syrians, while dealing with the earthquake catastrophe, are digging among rubbles with bare hands or using the simplest tools, as the equipment for removing the rubbles has been banned by the United States.
Sanctions have been a main U.S. tactic toward Syria ever since the latter was listed as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979. Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the United States and its Western allies have imposed a number of economic sanctions and restrictions that denied Syrians the means to pursue growth as well as access to daily necessities. U.S. sanctions intensified with the passing of the Caesar Act in 2019.
CALL FOR END OF U.S. SANCTIONS
Monday’s strong earthquakes drained the already limited resources of Syria, where at least 2,470 were killed and 4,650 injured, according to data released by authorities and rescuers.
The city of Aleppo in northern Syria was among the hardest hit in the quake, with debris still constantly falling in the aftermath of Monday’s earthquakes. And for lack of tools, some rescuers to dig through the rubble with bare hands in search of survivors in the snow and rain, Xinhua reporters witnessed.
Local residents are railing against the United States for retaining the economic sanctions when Syria desperately needs help from the international community.
Aisha al-Hilu, a school teacher, fled home with the kids after the earthquakes. All of their belongings were buried under the rubble.
She blasted the U.S. sanctions, which have cut off Syria’s economic and financial ties with the rest of the world and impeded the country’s access to quake relief supplies.
“These sanctions ‘punished’ us, but we didn’t do anything. Shame on them … They must remove these sanctions,” she said.
Prior to the quakes, Syria was already hurt by a new round of U.S. sanctions. On Jan. 16, the Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned in a statement the United States for imposing new sanctions that hinder Syria’s import of medical equipment and spare parts through “inhuman measures.”
At a press conference held Tuesday in the Syrian capital Damascus, Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) President Khaled Hboubati called for lifting the U.S. and Western sanctions on Syria to facilitate much-needed relief efforts.
In an interview with the semi-official Mehr news agency on Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani called on countries to pressure the United States into lifting the sanctions on Syria and the siege of the country to enable the delivery of international aid.
“The people of northern Syria are really suffering. Sanctions are stifling international relief and medical supplies. Thousands of deaths in Syria are preventable; earthquake relief should pause sanctions,” tweeted Khaled Beydoun, associate professor of law at U.S.-based Wayne State University.
“Western countries don’t need to send anything. Just remove lethal sanctions on Syria,” tweeted Sharmine Narwani, a commentator and analyst of Middle East geopolitics and former senior associate at St. Antony’s College, Oxford University.
