A new US draft resolution clamps down on Assad regime

Today, Friday, the US House of Representatives presented a new draft resolution related to the Syrian file, clarifying the policy of the new US president, Joe Biden, towards Syria, and tightening the screws on Assad regime.

According to the advisor of the Syrian-American Council, Muhammad Ghanem, on his Facebook page, the 25-page draft resolution “stipulates that the US policy in Syria should be to overthrow Assad and support the Syrians seeking this, not just dealing with the Syrian issue.”

The draft resolution also prohibits the new Biden administration “recognizing the Assad regime as a legitimate Syrian government, or recognizing Bashar Al-Assad’s right to run in any future elections in Syria.”

The draft law imposes the harshest sanctions of its kind so far, not only on the Assad regime, but also on the banks that have a relationship with Bashar al-Assad in Lebanon, Jordan, the Gulf, China and any other foreign country.
The draft resolution also allows the US President to establish economic zones in areas outside the control of the Assad regime to revitalize them, allowing them to form commercial relations with any country in the world.
The former Syrian diplomat and resident in Washington, Bassam Barbandi, confirmed that the draft resolution was presented today.

Burbandi considered that the draft resolution closes many gaps in the Caesar Act, in terms of increasing economic pressure on the Assad regime and increasing its political isolation.

Barbandi said that the importance of the draft resolution stems from the messages it contains more than the importance of turning it into a legal text, as the new draft in its content is a real message to the two parties, the first party is the Assad regime and its supporters, which is that the US Congress will not tolerate the Syrian file.

The second party is the new US President Joe Biden’s administration that Congress will not give it the freedom to deal with the Syrian file in a way that could sell Syria to Iran or deal with Assad again.

Burbandi emphasized that the process of transforming the draft resolution into a law in force is long and may last for months and possibly years, as happened with the Caesar Act, which lasted for four years, but in the event that there are certain parties working on it and it is a priority for them, it may be issued within a year. And earlier last June, the administration of US President Donald Trump issued the “Caesar Act”, which imposes economic sanctions on the Assad regime and its supporters, and the sanctions also included businessmen, officials and companies.