Join Syria Support Movement and the Sanctions Kill Coalition
in Signing this Statement

In the early morning hours of February 6, 2023, a 7.8 Earthquake struck in the vicinity of the Syrian Border with Turkey. At the end of the day, February 6, there were at least 1,700 dead, more than 20,000 injured, thousands more missing and hundreds of thousands displaced in Syria. Victims and rescue crews are struggling with continuing aftershocks and sub zero temperatures.

Aside from the need for food, medicine, warm clothing and blankets for victims, rescue workers need heavy equipment to excavate the ruins and to bury the bodies of the dead.  They need vehicles and gas to transport people and goods to critical locations.  They need experts, doctors and builders.  Syrians already suffering without food and medicine, without electricity, are now in much more dire circumstances.    While aid pours into Turkey, it trickles into Syria.  While planes full of relief land in Istanbul, Syria’s airports are still.  How can this be?

In large part this is because of US sanctions on Syria. As U.S. leaders have admitted, the purpose of the  Caesar sanctions on Syria is to deny that government the capacity to rebuild.  Now, we have a devastating natural disaster that requires immediate relief and reconstruction.

Initially, the United States brushed off calls to lift the Sanctions on Syria, but as international pressure grew, they produced General License 23.  GL 23 is  a brief document that all Sanction be lifted on money and goods going into Syria for earthquake relief, and only that, for the next 6 months.

Still, aid is largely blocked. Transactions must be evaluated on a case by case basis, and there is no safe lane.  Banks and corporate institutions do not changes policies overnight, especially when the financial punishment for violating US sanctions is severe.  The infrastructure necessary to evaluate transactions is significant and the risk is greater. Banks have been required to pay BILLIONS for violating US sanctions. Therefore, most of these institutions will not work with Syria.

So GL 23 is of limited value. There is virtually no way to send more that $1000 at a time to Syria from the U.S.   No planes will land in Syrian airports so goods must be sent to Jordan or Lebanon, then transported into Syria.  From what we have seen, it is a little better in Europe and the UK but they are doing transactions of around $5,000 at a time. So what we have is a  trickle of aid going to Syria in amounts of a few thousand dollars at a time. This is far from the billions needed for immediate relief, and later for rebuilding.

Another issue with providing aid to Syria is diversion.  U.S. Sanctions do not apply to the terrorist governed province of Idlib.  The only allowed gateways from Turkey into Syria go directly into Idlib, the last bastion of Al Qaeda control in Syria.  Western aid organizations  provide aid directly to Idlib, which is not shared with the majority population of Syria who live in areas under the control of the sovereign government of Syria.

SSM is, howevr, sending aid into Syria through cooperation with our international members.  It is small, but it is something. Please help us if you can.

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We believe equal aid should be provided to Syria and Turkey based on need, with aid to Syria distributed by the recognized government of Syria in Damascus and by the Syrian Relief organizations including Syrian Arab Red Crescent which can distribute throughout Syria (including opposition held areas).

The United States must permanently end all sanctions on Syria.  As confirmed by the UN General Assembly, US sanctions violate international law and the UN charter. 

We demand an Immediate End to Sanctions on Syria NOW!
We demand  Immediate Aid for the Syrian People
We demand the lifting of all barriers to global trade with Syria