Syrian Democratic Council official: Caesar Act will affect IDPs from Syria’s Afrin

Ilham Ahmad, senior member of Syrian Democratic Council - North Press

NORTHERN ALEPPO COUNTRYSIDE, Syria (North Press) – “Sanctions imposed by the United States of America on the Syrian government under the Caesar Act will have a serious impact on living conditions in Syria, including the areas where displaced people from Afrin live in the northern countryside of Aleppo,” said Ilham Ahmed, Head of the Executive body of the Syrian Democratic Council, pointing out that the Autonomous Administration will adopt measures to mitigate the effects of the sanctions.

"The sanctions are targeting the Syrian regime, that will also lead to a devaluation of the Syrian pound against the dollar, which will have a major impact on the lives of the Syrian people,” Ahmad added.

She noted that the areas of the northern countryside of Aleppo, where Afrin’s IDPs live in areas under Russian and Syrian government control, will also be affected by the depreciation of the Syrian pound.

“There is nothing in these areas that you can be used to punish the Syrian regime, this is what I understand from the law,”, she said, indicating that these areas do not constitute any economic resources for the Syrian government.

Regarding the measures that the Autonomous Administration will take to limit the impact of the application of the Caesar Act on the displaced people from Afrin in the northern countryside of Aleppo and the measures that the administration will take to limit the impact of the Caesar Act, Ahmed indicated that "the Autonomous Administration has formed a committee to manage the economic crisis, and it will take urgent measures regarding these sanctions to reduce the effects that will result from the implementation of the Caesar Act.”

1,765 displaced families, including more than seven thousand people, live in five camps in the northern countryside of Aleppo (al-Awda, Barkhwadan, Sardam, Shahba, and Afrin), according to the latest statistics of the Social Affairs Authority in the Autonomous Administration of Afrin province.

The Caesar Act will be implemented by mid-June, and the law includes sanctions on the Syrian President and his wife as well as on his Russian and Iranian allies who support the Syrian government, as well as those who could participate in the reconstruction.