Biden Administration Criticized for Not Imposing New Sanctions on Syria

US President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meet for the US-Russia summit at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meet for the US-Russia summit at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021. (Reuters)
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Biden Administration Criticized for Not Imposing New Sanctions on Syria

US President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meet for the US-Russia summit at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meet for the US-Russia summit at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021. (Reuters)

With the US Treasury issuing exemptions for the Syrian regime to enable it to face the COVID-19 pandemic, criticism targeted US President Joe Biden’s handling of the Syrian file and his abstention from imposing new sanctions under the Caesar Act.

Although the US Treasury, which issued the new guidance on Thursday afternoon, noted that they were part of the administration’s efforts to review financial and economic sanctions in order to ease COVID-19 assistance, the exemptions included two Syrian companies affiliated with the regime, namely Letia and Polymedics.

According to the Treasury statement, the two companies, which were sanctioned by the US in 2020, were allowed to conduct all activities pertaining to the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of the Covid-19 virus.

The Treasury also gave the green light to practice “all transactions and activities related to the exportation, re-exportation, sale, or supply, directly or indirectly, of services to Syria that are related to the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of COVID-19 (including research or clinical studies relating to COVID-19).”

The US Treasury said that this general license comes in line with the clarifications it issued in April that the sanctions pertaining to the Caesar Act did not include humanitarian aid related to food and medicine. However, its timing coincided with the lifting of sanctions on individuals accused of financing the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which raised several questions on Biden’s policy towards Syria.

Earlier this month, the Treasury lifted sanctions on two companies affiliated with Syrian businessman Samer Foz. The Treasury justified its decision by saying that it was due to a change in the behavior of the groups on which sanctions were imposed.

This justification presented by the Treasury Department did not convince the skeptical members of Congress, especially since the move coincided with the start of the sixth round of the Vienna negotiations with Iran over its nuclear deal, and before Biden’s meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday.

Congressmen accused the US president of making concessions to both Iran and Russia, pointing to the administration’s leniency with the Assad regime.

Rep. Congressman Joe Wilson said that Samer Foz directly benefited from the regime’s war crimes and destruction in Syria, and built luxurious communities on lands stolen from Syrians who were forced to flee their homes.

These criticisms were not limited to Republicans alone. Leading Democrats have joined them in calling on Biden to implement the Caesar Act.

They put forward a draft resolution in the Senate that coincided with the tenth anniversary of the Syrian revolution, in which they urged Biden to implement the law and impose sanctions. They recalled that the goal of Caesar Act was to hold the regime and its international backers accountable for the “atrocities they committed against the Syrian people”, and to strip it of resources to finance the war machine.

The draft resolution also points to the Iranian and Russian military role in supporting the regime and participating in violations against civilians in order to advance their interests, which led to the strengthening of extremist groups in the country.



One in 10 Children Screened in UNRWA Clinics are Malnourished

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
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One in 10 Children Screened in UNRWA Clinics are Malnourished

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

One in 10 children screened in clinics run by the United Nations refugee agency in Gaza since 2024 has been malnourished, the agency said on Tuesday.

"Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March," UNRWA's Director of Communications, Juliette Touma, told reporters in Geneva via a video link from Amman, Jordan.

Since January 2024, UNRWA said it had screened more than 240,000 boys and girls under the age of five in its clinics, adding that before the war, acute malnutrition was rarely seen in the Gaza Strip.

"One nurse that we spoke to told us that in the past, he only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries," Reuters quoted Touma as saying.

"Medicine, nutrition supplies, hygiene material, fuel are all rapidly running out," Touma said.

On May 19, Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume. However, UNRWA continues to be banned from bringing aid into the enclave.

Israel and the United States have accused Palestinian militant group Hamas of stealing from UN-led aid operations - which Hamas denies. They have instead set up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, using private US security and logistics firms to transport aid to distribution hubs, which the UN has refused to work with.

On Monday, UNICEF said that last month more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1,000 children with severe, acute malnutrition. It said it was an increase for the fourth month in a row.