IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Views differ in Idlib, northwestern Syria, regarding the new US administration’s policy and the possibilities for it to differ from the eras of former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
The residents of Idlib, which is held by Syrian opposition groups, are awaiting possible changes in US policy towards Syria under Biden’s administration.
Fixed policy
Mustafa Omar (a pseudonym), a displaced person in the border camps in north Idlib, believes that all countries that have intervened in the conflict in Syria are concerned only with their own interests.
He said that the US did not care about the suffering of the Syrian people over the decade-long war that left thousands dead and created millions of refugees and IDPs.
“The US policy towards Syria is fixed, and no president can override it except for their own interests in the region,” said Omar.
Prior to Biden assuming his presidential duties, Barack Barvey, a political researcher at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the New America Foundation, said that he did not believe that there would be a major change in US policies towards the Syrian crisis after Biden won, except in some areas.
He added that the Syrian regime, with Russian support, “practically won this war. There is no opportunity for progress at this time, and the scene remains suspended only in the northern region, where Idlib is, and in the eastern region, where the Autonomous Administration is.”
Ongoing sanctions
Idlib-based human rights activist Khalid Mahdi believes that the new US administration will not provide more than the Obama administration, “which has only watched what is happening since the beginning of the revolution.”
Mahdi does not rule out that the new president would renew the policy of former President Barack Obama in Syria to avoid making decisive moves to overthrow the Syrian president.
He said that outgoing US President Donald Trump stood more in the face of Iran’s incursion into Syria and fought it economically, which weakened its interference.
Idlib-based media activist Muhammad al-Asa’d believes that the new US policy will intensify pressure on Damascus government by imposing economic sanctions and extending the period of the Caesar Act.
The application of US sanctions last June led to the collapse of the value of the Syrian pound, followed by economic and living crises in the country that seemed to be more severe in the areas held by the Syrian government.
Al-Asa’d believes that the failure of the United States to participate in reconstruction projects unless a political transfer of power is achieved will “tighten the screws on the Syrian government.”
Pressure on Turkey
Salem al-Soteif, a doctor in Idlib, said that the former US president had eliminated the political and military dimension of the revolution.
Perhaps the new US administration would mark a milestone in favor of the Syrian revolution, he said.
The doctor believes that the new US administration will become more effective in Syria by putting pressure on Turkey to reach a real solution to the Syrian crisis, especially after the failure of most of the agreements signed between Russia and Turkey.
Since Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential elections, the attention of the Turkish Foreign Ministry has been directed to what will be the shape of the next relationship between America and Turkey, and how the American reaction will be to the issues in which Turkey interferes in the region.
The most prominent sources of tension between the US and Turkey are due to Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 missiles, and the US alliance with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria.
Al-Soteif suggested that the new US administration would seek to divert the attention of the Turks from the understandings with Russia and conclude new agreements with the Turkey.