A Year After its Implementation; How did the “Caesar’s Act” Affect the Assad Regime?

A year has passed since the entry into force of the Syria Civilian Protection Act, known as “Caesar”; this is after a long journey of work and obstacles that faced the team who worked on its release, which lasted for more than 3 years.

The Caesar Act which came into effect on June 17, 2020, 180 days after its approval and signature by former US President Donald Trump on December 20, 2019.

Where the American political position turns from a just position to a law in force, to limit the movement of the regime politically, militarily, and economically, to undermine its external dealings, and to put the Syrian economy in front of a new cycle of pressure, it is an already devastated economy, as a result of the war that has been going on since 2011.

 

Caesar's Act

Caesar's Act had taken its name from the nickname of a military photographer, who was working in the forensic medicine of the Syrian Regime, before defecting and heading towards France, he has about 55 thousand photographs of 11 thousand detainees who died under torture in the regime's prisons, from the outbreak of the revolution until mid-2013.

The US Congress, (“the Senate” and “the House of Representatives”), passed the Act on December 11, 2019, with the aim of punishing the Syrian Regime and its president, Bashar al-Assad, for what Washington says are war crimes committed against civilians.

While the Syrian Regime has been subject for years to US and European sanctions, however, it remained limited and did not affect foreign entities and countries associated with the regime, the “Caesar Act” stipulated imposing sanctions on individuals, entities, and even countries that support the Assad regime.

The Caesar Act gives the US President the right to impose sanctions on foreign persons, if they provide financial or technical support for the regime, or contracted with it or with any of the official institutions or entities controlled by it.

The Act also punishes each who sells aircraft or provides important services, technology or information, that facilitate or expand oil production or related services used by the regime’s military forces, and whoever provides construction or engineering services to the Syrian government, and services related to construction, shall also be punished.

What did 'Caesar' Achieve?

It was clear to observers and political analysts that the impact of US sanctions on the Syrian Regime would not alone be enough to push the regime's president, Bashar al-Assad, to make concessions on the political path.

Indeed, the country did not witness political transformations a year after the implementation of “Caesar”, the most obvious effects of the Act were on civilians, who were the weakest link in the face of sanctions.

The value of the Syrian pound had fallen directly before the implementation of Caesar's Act, the dollar exchange rate in 2020 to cross the barrier of 5000 Syrian pounds, but a year after, the exchange rate returned to stability at 3,200 Syrian pounds to one US dollar.

On the opposition's view of the Act as a way to overthrow the regime, “Abdul Majid Barakat”, a coordinator of the “Caesar Act Follow-up Working Group” in the Syrian opposition coalition, pointed out that “the Act's primary objective is to protect civilians, it does not include signals to the overthrow of the regime or its president”.

Adding that “the Act will try to pressure, by economic and diplomatic means, the regime and its allies to change their behavior, reducing the targeting of civilians through military operations, by undermining the entry of military supplies to the regime, and the Act may be a means of pressure to acquiesce in the

political process that could bring its end”.

 

As part of his reading of the effects of the Act on the regime, the economist at Jusoor Center for Studies, Khaled Al-Terkawi, believes that “Caesar succeeded in isolating the regime economically, so that the latter seeks to open up to the world more, but what happened is that the sanctions made it lose its ability to make any real investments, partnerships or foreign trade”.

In turn, the Syrian journalist, “Ayman Abdel Nour”, head of the “Syrian Christians for Peace” organization, believes that “the Act has had a significant impact on the regime, causing damage to the regime and to the political and economic figures who work with it”.

Abdel Nour confirmed that “the Act does not affect the lives of civilians, as the regime seeks to portray it, and that the cause of the queues in Damascus, Homs and Aleppo is the rampant corruption in the regime’s institutions, the Assad family stole the country's resources, in addition to the collapse of the banking sector in Lebanon”.

On the political level, the Caesar Act contributed significantly to stopping the normalization processes that some Arab countries intended to carry out, or participate in reconstruction operations, especially after the warning issued by the United States of America to the United Arab Emirates of being subjected to sanctions, because of the restoration of diplomatic relations with the regime.

 

Sanctions Packages

The first package of “Caesar” sanctions issued on June 17, 2019 targeted 17 individuals and 22 entities, led by Bashar al-Assad, and a number of his family members, including his brother Maher, in addition to businessmen such as Mohamed Hamsho and Nazir Ahmed.

As for the second package announced by the US Treasury on July 29, 2020, it targeted 4 personalities and 10 entities, including Hafez, the son of Bashar al-Assad, Zuhair is al-Assad's cousin, the "First Division" in the regime's army, and several commercial companies.

While the third package, which was announced on August 20, 2020, targeted 6 personalities, among them is Al-Assad's media advisor, Luna Al-Shibl, Ghiath Dallah, and Muhammad Ammar Al-Saati.

In late September 2020, the fourth package was issued targeting businessman Khader Taher, known as “Abu Ali Khaddour” and his companies, and the former governor of the Bank of Syria, Hazem Karfoul, the Ministry of Tourism, and tourism companies.

The fifth package announced by the US Treasury on November 11, 2020, the Arvada Petroleum Company and the Rusafa Refinery Company were targeted, and other companies linked to the oil trade between the Syrian Regime and “SDF”.

On December 22, 2020, the sixth and final package was issued, which targeted 7 personalities and 10 entities, among them are the names of Bashar al-Assad's wife, members of her family, the Central Bank of Syria, this package was considered the toughest among the previous packages.

Opposition’s Fears 

It is worth noting that it passed the last package of sanctions from the “Caesar Act”, which was approved a month before the administration of US President Joe Biden took over the White House nearly 7 months ago, this raises fear among the Syrian opposition.

Observers believe that the Biden administration has a desire to maintain the current situation and pending the completion of building its own strategy toward Syria.

Although members of the US Congress sent several letters to the Biden administration asking it to clarify the reason for this stalemate, however, the latter did not comment on this, amid fears that the Act would be waived to satisfy Iran, with which it is engaged in negotiations in Vienna for Iran’s return to the nuclear agreement.

What doubled the opposition’s fears was the US Treasury’s announcement a few days ago that it removed sanctions on two companies owned by Syrian businessman Samer Al-Fawz, he is one of the most prominent supporters of the Assad regime, with the US State Department providing unclear explanations for the step.

The Syrian opposition is afraid of what appears to be inaction by the “Biden” administration with the Syrian Regime, and it calls for the continuation of the sanctions lists against the Syrian Regime, to prevent it from circumventing the sanctions, by changing the ownership of its subsidiaries, and the establishment of fictitious companies, whose mission is to penetrate sanctions.

For his part, Karam Shaar, a researcher at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said: “The Biden administration's enthusiasm to impose new sanctions on the Syrian Regime is much less than the enthusiasm of the previous administration, for fear of the negative effects of the sanctions on the humanitarian situation in Syria, especially since a number of human rights and Christian organizations sent letters to Biden shortly after his accession to power, it asks him not to impose new sanctions against the regime”.

While the journalist Ayman Abdel Nour revealed that “the US administration has reduced the number of workers on the Caesar Act file in the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the Treasury, he added: “Great results are not expected from a smaller number of employees”.

It is worth noting that the United States had set 6 conditions for suspending the “Caesar Act” and removing the sanctions imposed under it, these include: Stopping of military operations and bombing of cities and medical facilities, allow access to humanitarian aid freely to all parts of the country, the release of detainees, securing a dignified return for refugees and displaced persons, hold war crimes perpetrators accountable, and brought them to justice.