Syria’s leadership has slammed the United States’ decision for allowing investment in the country’s north
Syria–Syria’s foreign ministry slammed a US plan to allow limited foreign investment in regions of northern Syria not under government control on Friday, promising to “fight” the action.
The US Treasury Department approved operations in 12 sectors on Thursday, including agriculture, construction, and banking, as part of a strategy to battle the ISIS terrorist group through economic stabilization, according to the US Treasury Department.
During the 11-year-long Syrian war, the decision prohibits any dealings with Syrian President Bashar al-administration Assad’s or those on the US’s blacklist.
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Syria’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday that it was “committed to destroy this new plot,” and urged people in the country’s north to “bring it down.”
The action was labeled as part of the US’s “destructive approach” to Syria. Damascus holds Western sanctions responsible for widespread civilian misery in the nation, where a currency collapse has resulted in skyrocketing prices and people struggling to purchase food and basic necessities.
After protests against al-Assad in 2011 developed into a deadly battle, government soldiers and allies reclaimed the majority of the land they had lost.
Turkish-backed troops dominate large swaths of area in the northwest, while the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces hold the majority of terrain in the northeast (SDF).
Syria’s oil reserves and wheat production are concentrated in the northeast, whereas the northwest was previously an agricultural and industrial zone.
The license allows for the purchase of oil goods such as gasoline in the region, but it prohibits transactions with the government or sanctioned persons, as well as the import of Syrian petroleum products into the US.
In a conference call with reporters, US officials dismissed claims that the move would aid efforts by certain Arab friends to get Assad back into the fold, and reiterated that Washington had no intention of removing sanctions against him. Instead, officials have claimed that economic regeneration will thwart ISIS’s efforts to attract new fighters.