UAE minister: US sanctions on Syria challenge rapprochement apnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from apnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
February 08, 2021
Msgr. Ignace Youssef III Younan
In the Middle East, the Catholic hierarchy is asking the new tenant of the White House to lift as quickly as possible the sanctions that currently weigh on the Syrian people, at the risk of appearing to be an accomplice to the “humanitarian catastrophe” which is already affecting millions of people, and which will end up becoming a new factor of instability in the whole region.
“We urge you, Mr. President, to come to the aid of the Syrians by alleviating the humanitarian crisis which threatens to unleash a new wave of instability in the Middle East and beyond. We believe that the legitimate national interests of the United States can be pursued without punishing the Syrian people through the current economic sanctions.”
By ELLEN KNICKMEYERDecember 22, 2020 GMT
FILE - A supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad waves a Syrian flag as she looks over a crowd gathered to show support for their president in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, March 29, 2011. Ten years ago, an uprising in Tunisia opened the way for a wave of popular revolts against authoritarian rulers across the Middle East known as the Arab Spring. For a brief window as leaders fell, it seemed the move toward greater democracy was irreversible. Instead, the region saw its most destructive decade of the modern era. Syria, Yemen, Libya and Iraq have been torn apart by wars, displacement and humanitarian crisis. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi, File)
Dec 22, 2020 5:41 PM EDT
The Trump administration on Tuesday announced more sanctions on Syria, intensifying pressure on President Bashar Assad to end the country’s vicious, nearly decade-long conflict. The new sanctions target Syria’s central bank, Assad’s in-laws, and others.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the United States was intent on “holding accountable the Assad regime for the atrocities it has committed against its own people.”
“The Treasury Department will continue to use all of its tools to expose those who stand with the Assad regime and enable these crimes to continue,” Mnuchin said in a statement.
The State Department and other international governments and independent rights groups say Assad and his regime are responsible in the killings of hundreds of thousands of civilians through aerial bombing, torture, armed attacks, hunger and other targeted campaigns. The violence began when Assad’s fighters brutally qu