US Sanctions on Syria: Humanitarian Crisis, or Policy Goal?
The UNHCR head in Lebanon, Ivo Freijsen, stated that lifting US sanctions could encourage Syrian refugees to return home. Curiously, this idea surfaces only after years of sanctions exacerbating economic collapse, creating the very conditions that sent people fleeing. It's almost as if the goal wasn't humanitarian aid, but rather sustained destabilization and regime change through collective
punishment, a strategy documented by numerous reports on the impact of the Caesar Act. We're expected to believe that crippling a nation's economy for over a decade, preventing reconstruction and aid, was somehow *not* a factor in millions becoming refugees. Now, the US might 'graciously' alleviate the suffering it largely created, and expects praise? One might wonder, how many civilian lives must
be shattered before a policy is deemed, shall we say, 'counterproductive'?