US State Department: “Caesar Act” sanctions are in full force on Assad regime

The US State Department said that the “Caesar Act” sanctions remain in full force, affirming that the US will hold Assad regime accountable for its actions against the Syrian people.

This statement came in a press briefing by the Deputy Spokesperson of the US State Department, Vedant Patel, after the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons released a report yesterday, which concluded that the Assad regime was responsible for the deadly chemical weapons attack on Douma city on April 7, 2018. The report refutes the Russian claim that the opposition was responsible for the attack.

Patel said that “the United States will continue to hold Assad and his regime accountable for their atrocities against the Syrian people, some of which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity”. He added that “the sanctions, including the ones under the Caesar Act, remain in full force and are an important tool to press for accountability for the Assad regime.”

The US diplomat condemned “in the strongest possible terms any use of chemical weapons anywhere by anyone under any circumstances.”

The State Department deputy spokesperson denied any plans by the Biden administration to lift sanctions against the Assad regime, especially the “Caesar Act,” stressing that the United States “will continue to use the tools in its arsenal to hold the Assad regime accountable for its actions against the Syrian people.”

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said in a report on Friday that the Assad regime was responsible for the chemical attack that targeted Douma city in Eastern Ghouta in 2018.

After the report released, US lawmakers accused President Joe Biden’s administration of “not doing much” to limit normalization with the Assad regime, stressing that “it must be held accountable and treated as an outcast.”

The top Republican at the US Senate Jim Risch said that the report of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons “confirmed Assad’s use of the abhorrent chemical weapon against civilians in Douma city, adding that “in response, the Biden administration did not do much to limit normalization with the Assad regime.”

For his part The Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCall, said that the organization’s report “confirms what we have known for years,” stressing that “Assad is a war criminal, who used chemical weapons against Syrian civilians.”

Senator McCall stressed that the international community should treat the Assad regime as an outcast, and should seek accountability,” stressing that it is “no to normalization.”

The OPCW report concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that at least one Mi-8/17 helicopter of the Assad regime air force, departing from Dumayr airbase eastern Damascus about 19:30 on April 7, 2018, dropped two cylinders carrying chlorine which hit two residential buildings in a central area of Douma city, killing 43 individuals and injuring dozens.