US sanctions on Ahrar al-Sharqiya are promising step: Syrian Human Rights director
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On Thursday, the director of a Syrian human rights organization described the US sanctions, which included a pro-Turkish faction, as a “good” development, suggesting that there will be subsequent steps in the same context.
Yesterday, the US Department of Treasury included individuals and entities from the Syrian government and opposition to the first sanctions’ lists under Joe Biden’s administration.
For the first time, the sanctions targeted two leaders of the Turkish-backed Ahrar al-Sharqiya faction, Ahmad Ihsan Fayyad al-Hayes, known as Abu Hatim al-Shakra, and Raed Jassim al-Hayes.
Bassam al-Ahmad, a Syrian human rights defender and Co-Founder and Executive Director of Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ), said that the sanctions came late, “as this change in the US policy was supposed to take place a long time ago.”
“The position of the current US administration is different from its predecessor, which included people who were close to Turkey and the factions involved in violations,” he told North Press.
During the Syrian war, Abu Hatim al-Shakra and his faction committed crimes and grave violations of human rights, most notably the assassination of the Kurdish female politician, Hevrin Khalaf in 2019, in addition to the execution of detainees, the smuggling of Yezidi women and children, and having former ISIS members within the ranks of his faction.
The STJ director considered these sanctions “a good message to the Interim Government and the Syrian opposition coalition and their supporter, namely Turkey.”
“This step should be followed by other ones, and all individuals and factions accused of committing violations should be targeted in the sanctions,” he added.
Al-Ahmad considered that there are other factions such as Suleiman Shah, Sultan Murad, Hamza Division, al-Mu’tasim Brigade and the Sham Legion who are mainly accused of committing human rights violations in the regions of Afrin, Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) and Tel Abyad, “and they should be included in the sanctions.”
He expected that another set of sanctions will be issued in the future on individuals and other factions accused of human rights violations, as well as the inclusion of a large number of ISIS members in its ranks.