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Washington’s Conditions for Normalizing Ties with Damascus Vs. Criteria for Lifting Sanctions on Syria

A Syrian boy looks at an American military patrol east of the Euphrates region in Syria, (AFP)
A Syrian boy looks at an American military patrol east of the Euphrates region in Syria, (AFP)
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Washington’s Conditions for Normalizing Ties with Damascus Vs. Criteria for Lifting Sanctions on Syria

A Syrian boy looks at an American military patrol east of the Euphrates region in Syria, (AFP)
A Syrian boy looks at an American military patrol east of the Euphrates region in Syria, (AFP)

Washington has set seven conditions for lifting sanctions imposed under the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019. But to normalize ties with Damascus, the US is demanding authorities in the Levantine country to first meet six conditions, four of which have been set before civil war breaking out in 2011.

With nearly three months having passed since the Biden administration took over in Washington, it is becoming more and more evident that Syria is not an immediate priority for the new US leadership.

While the previous two US administrations appointed a special envoy to Syria, US President Joe Biden has not yet done so, although he has assigned special envoys to Lebanon and Iran.

Brett McGurk, the former US envoy for the International Coalition against ISIS, is now the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa and is responsible for maintaining light supervision of US policy on Syria.

Nevertheless, the US continues to impose sanctions to pressure the Syrian regime headed by President Bashar al-Assad to comply with implementing UN Security Council Resolution 2254, which calls for a ceasefire and a political settlement in Syria.

But the Syrian regime can get rid of the bans if it gets the incumbent US president to agree it had met Caesar Act’s seven conditions for suspending sanctions.

The seven criteria include the following:

i. The Syrian and Russian governments cease using Syrian airspace to target civilian populations

ii. Areas of Syria not under government control are no longer cut off from international aid and have regular access to humanitarian assistance, freedom of travel and medical care

iii. The Syrian government release all political prisoners and allow access to detention facilities

iv. The Syrian government and its allies cease the deliberate targeting of medical facilities, schools, residential areas and other civilian targets

v. The Syrian government take steps to fulfill its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and make “tangible progress” toward becoming a signatory to the Convention Prohibiting Biological and Toxin Weapons

vi. The Syrian government permit the safe, voluntary, and dignified return of Syrians displaced by the conflict

vii. The Syrian government takes “verifiable steps” to establish meaningful accountability for perpetrators of war crimes in Syria and justice for victims of war crimes committed by the Assad government.

But for the Syrian regime to get Washington to normalize ties with Damascus it must fulfill different conditions that have been put in place by the former Trump administration.

According to the peace plan drafted by the ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Assad government would have to stop supporting terrorism, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militia.

It would also need to cease threatening neighboring countries, give up weapons of mass destruction, back the voluntary return of Syrian refugees and deliver war criminals to justice.

Some are arguing that US sanctions could be adversely affecting Syrians who are already suffering the scourge of an ongoing civil war and the fallout of a crippling economic crisis. But since coming to power, the Biden administration has launched a general revision of US sanctions everywhere based on ensuring they do not restrict the flow of humanitarian aid and efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

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School’s Out: Climate Change Keeps Pakistan Students Home

A schoolgirl drinks water after her classes, on a hot summer day in Lahore on May 26, 2025, as state government announced early summer vacations for schools owing to rising temperatures. (AFP)
A schoolgirl drinks water after her classes, on a hot summer day in Lahore on May 26, 2025, as state government announced early summer vacations for schools owing to rising temperatures. (AFP)
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School’s Out: Climate Change Keeps Pakistan Students Home

A schoolgirl drinks water after her classes, on a hot summer day in Lahore on May 26, 2025, as state government announced early summer vacations for schools owing to rising temperatures. (AFP)
A schoolgirl drinks water after her classes, on a hot summer day in Lahore on May 26, 2025, as state government announced early summer vacations for schools owing to rising temperatures. (AFP)

Pakistan's children are losing weeks of education each year to school closures caused by climate change-linked extreme weather, prompting calls for a radical rethink of learning schedules.

Searing heat, toxic smog and unusual cold snaps have all caused closures that are meant to spare children the health risks of learning in classrooms that are often overcrowded and lack basic cooling, heating or ventilation systems.

In May, a nationwide heatwave saw temperatures up to seven degrees Celsius above normal, hitting 45C (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in Punjab and prompting several provinces to cut school hours or start summer holidays early.

"The class becomes so hot that it feels like we are sitting in a brick kiln," said 17-year-old Hafiz Ehtesham outside an inner-city Lahore school.

"I don't even want to come to school."

Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with limited resources for adaptation, and extreme weather is compounding an existing education crisis caused mostly by access and poverty.

"Soon we will have major cognitive challenges because students are being impacted by extreme heat and extreme smog over long periods of time," said Lahore-based education activist Baela Raza Jamil.

"The poorest are most vulnerable. But climate change is indeed a great leveler and the urban middle class is also affected."

Pakistan's summers historically began in June, when temperatures hit the high 40s. But in the last five years, May has been similarly hot, according to the Meteorological Department.

"During a power outage, I was sweating so much that the drops were falling off my forehead onto my desk," 15-year-old Jannat, a student in Lahore, told AFP.

"A girl in my class had a nosebleed from the heat."

- Health versus learning -

Around a third of Pakistani school-age children -- over 26 million -- are out of school, according to government figures, one of the highest numbers in the world.

And 65 percent of children are unable to read age-appropriate material by age 10.

School closures affect almost every part of Pakistan, including the country's most populous province Punjab, which has the highest rates of school attendance.

Classes closed for two weeks in November over air pollution, and another week in May because of heat. In the previous academic year, three weeks were lost in January to a cold snap and two weeks in May due to heat.

Political unrest and cricket matches that closed roads meant more lost days.

In Balochistan, Pakistan's poorest province, May heatwaves have prompted early summer vacations for three years running, while in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, school hours are regularly slashed.

For authorities, the choice is often between sending children to school in potentially dangerous conditions or watching them fall behind.

In southern Sindh province, authorities have resisted heat-related closures despite growing demands from parents.

"It's hard for parents to send their children to school in this kind of weather," private school principal Sadiq Hussain told AFP in Karachi, adding that attendance drops by 25 percent in May.

"Their physical and mental health is being affected," added Dost Mohammad Danish, general secretary of All Sindh Private Schools and Colleges Association.

"Don't expect better scientists from Pakistan in the coming years."

- 'Everyone is suffering' -

Schools in Pakistan are overseen by provincial authorities, whose closure notices apply to all schools in a region, even when they are hundreds of kilometers (miles) apart and may be experiencing different conditions, or have different resources to cope.

Teachers, parents and education experts want a rethink of school hours, exam timetables and vacations, with schools able to offer Saturday classes or split the school day to avoid the midday heat.

Izza Farrakh, a senior education specialist at the World Bank, said climate change-related impacts are affecting attendance and learning outcomes.

"Schools need to have flexibility in determining their academic calendar. It shouldn't be centralized," she said, adding that end-of-year exams usually taken in May could be replaced by regular assessments throughout the year.

Adapting school buildings is also crucial.

International development agencies have already equipped thousands of schools with solar panels, but many more of the country's 250,000 schools need help.

Hundreds of climate-resilient schools funded by World Bank loans are being built in Sindh. They are elevated to withstand monsoon flooding, and fitted with solar panels for power and rooftop insulation to combat heat and cold.

But in Pakistan's most impoverished villages, where education is a route out of generational poverty, parents still face tough choices.

In rural Sukkur, the local school was among 27,000 damaged or destroyed by unprecedented 2022 floods. Children learn outside their half-collapsed school building, unprotected from the elements.

"Our children are worried, and we are deeply concerned," said parent Ali Gohar Gandhu, a daily wage laborer. "Everyone is suffering."