House lawmakers plan to quickly pass legislation sanctioning Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s regime for targeting civilians in his fight to remain in power.
“Republicans and Democrats recognize the need to isolate the Assad regime for its continued atrocities against the Syrian people,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday in advance of the vote. “I’m glad the White House has stopped blocking these critical sanctions, which are a necessary response to Assad’s crimes against humanity.”
The bill was previously slated to pass in October, but President Obama’s team reportedly worked to delay the process because Secretary of State John Kerry was trying to negotiate a complicated cease-fire agreement with Russia, which supports the Assad regime. That agreement failed, although Russia paused some of its attacks on the rebel-held quarters of Aleppo, a major Syrian city.
The House vote is taking place just as Russia has resumed a bombing campaign against Aleppo. “Our legislation would crack down on anyone who is still doing business with the Assad regime, while leaving room for meaningful negotiations to move forward,” House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said of the bill in July. “It would also help ensure that down the road, anyone responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity is held accountable.”
Obama’s team argued in September that “[a]pplying unilateral sanctions by the United States is not the most effective way” to pressure Assad, but the House vote comes on the heels of the European Union imposing travel bans and asset freezes on 17 Syrian government officials.
The House bill targets anyone who “does business with or provides financing” to the Syrian government, airlines, telecommunications, or energy industry. Neither the House bill nor the EU explicitly sanctions Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government, but the focus on investigating war crimes could lead to that result down the road, in light of accusations already leveled against Russia by western powers.
“Russia and the regime owe the world more than an explanation about why they keep hitting hospitals, medical facilities, children and women,” Kerry said in October. “These are acts that beg for an appropriate investigation of war crimes and those that commit these would and should be held accountable for these actions. They’re beyond the accidental now, way beyond, years beyond the accidental. This is a targeted strategy to terrorize civilians and to kill anybody and everybody who is in the way of their military objectives.”
Donald Trump’s administration is expected to take a more conciliatory tack towards Putin, however, as the incoming president argued throughout the campaign that the U.S. and Russia should coordinate in Syria to attack terrorist networks.
