Bishop of Aleppo: Sanctions are a 'death sentence' for Syrian people

Bishop Georges Abou Khazen

Source: Fides

"Perpetuating the sanctions against Syria means condemning many people to death."

Bishop Georges Abou Khazen, Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo for Catholics of the Latin rite, has chosen clear and unequivocal words to describe the effects sanctions imposed by Western countries against the Bashar al Assad regime have on the daily lives of millions of Syrians.

Recently the US and EU have announced significant confirmations and extensions of the sanctions on Syria as a way of putting pressure on the current regime.

A spokesman for the US State Department confirmed that Washington has not implemented any easing of sanctions against the Syrian regime, and will not ease its opposition to country reconstruction plans run by ruling apparatuses. The statements from the US State Department strongly denied allegations about US involvement in the decision taken by the United Arab Emirates to build a solar power plant in a rural area near Damascus .The decision announced during the recent visit carried out in Syria by Abdullah bin Zayed, Foreign Minister of the Emirates.

On Monday, November 15, the Council of the European Union announced an extension of sanctions against members and bodies linked to the Syrian government.

The European sanctions, introduced in 2011 after the repression of the first demonstrations organised by groups opposed to Assad, currently affect more than 280 individuals and about 70 bodies linked to the Syrian government.

Bishop Georges, who witnessed what is happening in Aleppo on the spot, said: "The everyday situation is in many ways worse than what we saw when Aleppo was a battlefield between the Syrian army and the militias of the so-called rebels. There are no drugs, the hospitals lack the equipment to save lives, the basic essentials of life, including food, are lacking, and many are barely able to get enough to eat every day to survive.."

"The situation is all the more unbearable when one has the impression that the badly hidden aim of the sanctions is precisely to increase the suffering of the population in order to stir up dissatisfaction towards political leaders and pursue geopolitical strategies and interests by playing this game at the expense of the Syrian people: it is always the poor who pay, while the rich and those in charge are spared. That is why we keep saying here that these sanctions are criminal."