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| - The United States on Wednesday imposed new sanctions against the Syrian government over alleged crimes during the nine-year war, just as Damascus hopes to launch post-conflict reconstruction. What does the Caesar Act aim to achieve? How will these new restrictions likely affect ordinary Syrians? And what are the repercussions for other countries? Syrian government officials and associated businessmen have already come under US and EU sanctions. On Wednesday, the US slapped sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad's wife Asma for the first time. She was among 39 people or entities sanctioned under the new act, meaning their assets in the US will be frozen. Washington also aims to hamper any foreign person who deals with the Damascus government, or the Iranian and Russian presence on the ground in support of the regime. The legislation targets sectors including construction, the military and oil and gas. Washington's conditions to lift the sanctions include establishing "accountability for perpetrators of war crimes", ending regime or Russian bombardment of civilians, freeing political detainees, and the safe return of refugees. "The Caesar Act is the latest iteration of ongoing US efforts to force a political settlement, and enact... the removal of Bashar al-Assad," said Edward Dehnert, an analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit. But "we don't see this happening any time soon. Mr Assad's position is secure." Instead, the sanctions could help impede "the extent to which the regime and its cronies are able to profit from the economic opportunities" provided by reconstruction. "The sanctions are designed to maintain the Assad regime's status as a pariah, and the threat of US punitive action will be enough to scare off the majority of foreign investment," he said. Damascus has said the measures would compound "the suffering of the Syrian people" in a war-battered economy. Analysts from the International Crisis Group and Chatham House have said mere expectations of the sanctions accelerated a recent plunge in the value of the Syrian pound on the black market. Syria's central bank Wednesday devalued the currency from around 700 to 1,250 Syrian pounds to the dollar, in a bid to narrow the gap with the market rate. Dehnert said the US measures would complicate food and fuel imports, and push more Syrians into poverty. "The Syrian people will suffer the most," he said, due largely to rising prices and fewer jobs. Hossam Tutanji, a manager of a dispensary in Old Damascus, feared "restrictions on importing equipment and tools" for medical centres. The Caesar Act also targets the influence of top regime backers Russia and Iran, which both have experience in circumventing sanctions. But "the latest measures could have the opposite effect," Dehnert said. "By warding off the more mainstream investment activity, the US is reducing the competitiveness of investment opportunities -- a race in which Russia and Iran already hold significant advantage," he said. The sanctions could also dampen the enthusiasm of the United Arab Emirates, which had taken the lead among Gulf countries in re-establishing diplomatic ties with Damascus. They could likewise have a serious knock-on effect in neighbouring Lebanon, which was Damascus's lifeline and rear base during the war. "The Caesar Act aims to starve Lebanon just as it aims to starve Syria," Hassan Nasrallah, head of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement which supports Damascus, said late Tuesday. The Lebanese government has set up a committee to study the possible impacts on its many trade links with Syria. Lebanon is already virtually bankrupt and fresh restrictions on its access to the Syrian reconstruction market are likely to make things worse. Construction firms, "logistics, shipping and road haulage" in Lebanon could be affected, as could agricultural and industrial players, Dehnert said. "While food producers do not specifically target the Syrian market, they do use Syria as a corridor to supplying the wider Middle Eastern market." rh-bur/ah-jmm/ho/dwo
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