Sanctions removal contradicts U.S. previous claims of not targeting humanitarian effort -- experts

DAMASCUS, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. decision to lift sanctions on Syria in the wake of international condemnation contradicts what it has claimed, namely that the sanctions did not target humanitarian aid to the quake-hit country, Syrian experts have said.

The U.S. Treasury Department issued a six-month sanctions exemption for Syria-bound humanitarian aid on Thursday, three days after massive earthquakes and aftershocks struck Türkiye and neighboring Syria that have left more than 24,000 dead and tens of thousands injured in both countries.

"The announcement of the U.S. Treasury is a confession that what Washington was claiming that the sanctions did not affect humanitarian aid was a false and misleading claim," political expert Muhammad al-Omari said.

Political expert Kamal al-Jafa said that if Washington's previous claims were legitimate and convincing, it would not have decided to lift the embargo.

"The United States knows that the sanctions imposed on the Syrian people were unjust and led to worsening the living conditions of the Syrians over the past few years," he said.

The Syrian government has repeatedly urged Washington to remove sanctions as they were unjust and inhumane, particularly after the strong earthquakes. On Tuesday, it lambasted the United States for blocking humanitarian relief work in Syria.

Sanctions have been a main U.S. tactic toward Syria ever since the latter was listed as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979.

Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the United States and its Western allies have imposed a number of economic sanctions and restrictions that denied Syrians the means to pursue growth as well as access to daily necessities. U.S. sanctions intensified with the passing of the Caesar Act in 2019.