Monday was a huge day for the Syrian population, given the European Union has suspended with immediate effect many of the sanctions the bloc long ago imposed on Syria, particularly related to the areas of banking, energy, transport, and reconstruction.
"This decision is part of the EU’s efforts to support an inclusive political transition in Syria, and its swift economic recovery, reconstruction, and stabilization," a statement issued by the Council of European Union said. As for how 'inclusive' the new HTS regime under Jolani is, we'll let the photos speak for themselves...
But the fact remains that millions of Syrians felt the devastating impact of sanctions most heavily. The West used the sanctions to try and squeeze the Bashar al-Assad government out of power. He fled Syria on December 8 as Turkish-backed jihadists made their way south from Idlib.
For years, and currently, Syrians spend most of their week without electricity, or adequate fuel for heat or cars. The currency collapsed but is barely starting to recover. The common populace has been suffering severely for well over a decade.
The EU has lifted asset freezes for five banks as well as eased restrictions on the central bank, which may allow the Syrian Lira (pound) to improve further.
Reuters has underscored that some EU sanctions including on arms trading, dual-use goods with both military and civilian uses, software for surveillance, and the international trade of Syrian cultural heritage goods, will remain in place.
Yet during the height of the proxy war for regime change, the EU only allowed the transfers of arms and ammo to the anti-Assad 'rebels' of Syria. Many of these weapons ended up in ISIS and al-Qaeda hands, and this never seemed to bother Western leaders very much (as it was perhaps intended).
Last week, the UN Development Program (UNDP) issued a report saying it expects it could take over 50 years for Syria to make a full recovery to what it was pre-war.
And on Sunday, UNDP director Abdallah al-Dardari stated that 90 percent of the Syrian population lived in poverty. This was never close to being the case before the proxy war.
"That is three times the level of poverty in 2010, and the proportion of people living in extreme poverty today is 66 percent – six times the level in 2010, which was 11 percent," Dardari said.
The US-NATO-Gulf led proxy war to overthrow Assad smashed the country for years and decades to come. And what has emerged is an Al-Qaeda linked government in Damascus, and gangs of unaccountable foreign jihadists roaming the countryside.
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When Europe and the US talk "democracy promotion"... never forget: