{"id":35997,"date":"2019-03-18T03:23:06","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T03:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=35997"},"modified":"2019-03-18T03:23:06","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T03:23:06","slug":"syria-to-un-envoy-constitution-is-a-sovereign-matter-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=35997","title":{"rendered":"Syria to UN envoy: Constitution is a \u2018sovereign\u2019 matter"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nSYRIA: The Syrian crisis enters its ninth year this month, leaving in its wake a trail of death, destruction, destitution, displacement and division.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe war has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced at least 12 million, and left the country\u2019s economy and infrastructure in ruins.<\/p>\n

\nSyrian President Bashar Assad said in a speech on Feb. 17: \u201cWe have this romantic view sometimes that we are victorious. No, the war is not over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\"\"Statistics and figures from Syrian Customs, provided by economist and financial advisor Dr. Humam Al-Jazaeri, show that the volume of foreign trade plummeted between 2010 and 2016 due to non-UN (US and EU) sanctions, the suspension of oil production, damage to physical infrastructure and the closure of border crossings with Jordan and Iraq.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cA compliance buffer zone at financial institutions has been put in place voluntarily, especially by international banks, against transactions in goods and services traded with Syria, leading to a significant rise in international transaction costs, including the costs of shipping, insurance and financing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cDue to non-UN sanctions, combined with the conflict, the capabilities of Syrian banks have been significantly eroded in facilitating international payments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe tide of the war has turned in the Syrian regime\u2019s favor, with the bulk of the country back in its control, prompting some Arab states to begin normalizing ties with Damascus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nJordan reopened its main border crossing with Syria in October 2018, and Sudan\u2019s President Omar Al-Bashir visited Damascus in mid-December, the first Arab ruler to visit the country since the war began in 2011.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\"\"<\/p>\n

\nThere is a growing consensus among Arab League countries about readmitting Syria to the regional bloc, after its membership was suspended seven years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nMark Gasiorowski, a political science lecturer at Tulane University in the US, told Arab News: \u201cThis is part of a process of rehabilitating the Syrian regime that has been going on for a year or so now, as the regime has increasingly been winning its civil war with extensive help from Russia and Iran.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nEven though Arab states are reluctant to have any dealings with Damascus, \u201cSyria is a key Arab state, and other Arab powers can\u2019t afford to keep ostracizing it, as the US and EU countries can,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) forecast in December 2018 that up to 250,000 Syrian refugees could return to their devastated homeland in 2019, despite massive hurdles facing them.\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

\nBut the following month, the UN said conditions were not right for the safe and orderly return of large groups of refugees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe French and German ambassadors to Syria blame Damascus for \u201ccreating a climate of fear and injustice\u201d that is preventing refugees from returning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThey called on Damascus to \u201ccredibly end arbitrary arrests and prosecution,\u201d and to \u201cstop restricting the work of the UNHCR\u201d so that \u201cit can freely move within Syria to access and protect all refugees.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n\"\"
\nDamaged markets in the old quarter of Syria\u2019s second city Aleppo. AFP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\nMeanwhile, the third Brussels conference on \u201cSupporting the Future of Syria and the Region,\u201d held on March 12-14, noted that more than 11 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe conference pledged $7 billion for 2019 in aid for Syrians in the country and its neighbors.<\/p>\n

\nEven though the security situation has improved with the defeat of Daesh, many parts of Syria remain a serious security concern.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nAnd while pro-regime forces have recaptured areas surrounding the capital, shortages of fuel, cooking gas and electricity have hit Damascus hard this winter, leading to rising food prices and transport costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nWith persistent power cuts and a rise in fuel prices, residents are increasingly relying on gas for heating. Other major cities are also facing an energy crisis, including Aleppo, As-Suwayda, Hama, Homs and Latakia.<\/p>\n

\nLocals have taken to social media to express their anger not just toward their living situation, but also Parliament Speaker Hammouda Al-Sabbagh\u2019s claim that these complaints are \u201ccampaigns \u2026 managed by foreign parties.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nSocial media activist Ahmed S. said: \u201cThe people\u2019s rightful demands for the provision of basic products are popular demands that Parliament \u2026 must support, not consider them campaigns that are managed by foreign parties.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SYRIA: The Syrian crisis enters its ninth year this month, leaving in its wake a trail of death, destruction, destitution, displacement and division.\u00a0 The war has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced at least 12 million, and left the country\u2019s economy and infrastructure in ruins. Syrian President Bashar Assad said in a speech on Feb.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}