Analysis: While the world wasn’t watching, Syria has edged toward collapse, and the dictator is in his weakest position ever. The U.S. now has a narrow chance to prevent a catastrophe
That was the wording of a message issued to Bashar Assad by the Druze community in Syria’s southern Suwayda province on Tuesday after three days of intensifying protests. Since then, its opposition to the Assad regime has only heated up, despite a pro-regime counterprotest on Wednesday, in which local state employees were threatened by secret police should they not participate.
This new and almost unprecedented moment offers America an opportunity. Although it may seem like the Trump administration—and particularly the White House—has paid little attention to Syria, it has an opening now.
Those scenarios are a lot to swallow, but there may be another one in which the United States could play a meaningful role alongside its many allies, in Europe and the Middle East itself. In recent months, Syria’s economy has collapsed, resulting in hyperinflation, mass business closures, widespread food shortages and increasing unemployment. With the Syrian pound floating between 2,400-3,000 to a single U.S. dollar, an averagesalary in Syria now buys roughly one watermelon, or two pounds of lemons.
At this point, it’s important to note that Syria’s economic crisis is not the consequence of the wide spectrum of sanctions imposed by the U.S. and Europe, principally against individuals and business entities judged to have been involved in war crimes, though under some circumstances sanctions have exacerbated the effects of the decline.
America will always have an interest in helping solve Syria’s crises, but rarely will we have a chance like the one currently in play.
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