Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Syria Walid Al-Muallem accused the administration of US President Donald Trump of trying to suffocate the Syrians with sanctions “just like George Floyd and others were cruelly suffocated in the United States.”
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly via a pre-recorded video, which is currently holding its meetings virtually, Al-Muallem likened the effect of the sanctions to the death of Floyd, a Black American who died in May after a white police officer knelt on his neck.
“The real purpose of the Act is to put pressure on Syrians, their livelihoods, and their daily lives. It is an inhumane attempt to suffocate Syrians, just like George Floyd and others were cruelly suffocated in the United States,” Al-Muallem said.
New US sanctions, which took effect in June under the so-called Caesar Act, have further paralyzed the war-torn country's already ailing economy by preventing foreign companies from doing business with Damascus.
According to State Department, executive Order 13894 includes menu-based sanctions including travel restrictions to the United States and isolation from the United States’ financial system for foreign persons who engage in or finance the obstruction, prevention, or disruption of a ceasefire or political solution to the conflict and members of their family, among other actions.
Mandatory sanctions under the Caesar Act target foreign persons who facilitate the Assad regime’s acquisition of goods, services, or technologies that support the regime’s military activities as well as its aviation and oil and gas production industries.
The Caesar Act also mandates sanctions on those profiting off the Syrian conflict by engaging in reconstruction activities.
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