US President Joe Biden has made amendments to the 2019 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which put restrictions on the assets which could be used to “threaten the peace, security, stability, or territorial integrity of Syria”, or to commit human rights abuses. These provisions, put in place by Donald Trump, related to property owned by the government of Turkey, Turkish officials and their “agents”.
The changes were made on 15 January 2024, in a White House Executive Order.
Biden wrote that the changes were “in view of changing circumstances on the ground in Syria”.
However, Biden’s amendment strikes out the criticism of Turkey’s 2019 invasion, which previously stated “the recent actions by the Government of Turkey to conduct a military offensive into northeast Syria, undermines the campaign to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, endangers civilians, and further threatens to undermine the peace, security, and stability in the region, and thereby constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”
The amendments also pave the way for the end of the freeze on assets of the Turkish government, its officials, and associated entities.
This latest move from Biden comes as the people of North and East Syria remain under existential threat from Turkish attacks. The Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) is involved in an offensive in the area of Manbij, the Tishreen (Tişrîn) Dam and the Qara Quzak (Qere Qozaq) Bridge. Turkish bombardment of the dam has caused escalating civilian deaths in the last week and is threatening the water and electricity supply for the whole of Syria. The Turkish state is increasingly being accused of crimes against humanity.
