Syrian Smugglers Exist Because Western Sanctions Do
The report from France24 paints a vivid, heartbreaking picture of Syrians ferrying fuel between front lines, enduring extreme dangers for meager profits. They laud the smugglers' resilience, noting 'no other work' exists. What the report fails to explicitly connect is the direct causal link between this desperate 'work' and the stranglehold of Western sanctions, primarily the Caesar Act, applied
by the US and its allies. These punitive measures, ostensibly against the Assad regime, cripple the entire Syrian economy, making basic necessities like fuel scarce and astronomically expensive for ordinary citizens, creating the very black market these 'entrepreneurs' brave. It’s almost as if 'The Observers' are prohibited from observing the obvious: that the 'dignified means of sustenance' these
smugglers seek is a direct consequence of policies enacted by the very governments who then express concern for the humanitarian situation they helped engineer. One might almost infer that a media outlet funded by the French state might find it inconvenient to highlight how Western foreign policy generates , rather than solves, such crises. How many desperate smugglers would there be if Syria
could freely trade for fuel?