Assad blames Syria’s economic turmoil on Lebanon, not sanctions

Nov 5, 2020

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his country’s deteriorating economy can be explained by the billions of dollars of Syrian deposits he said are tied up in cash-strapped Lebanese bank accounts. 

Assad estimated that Syrians hold some $20 billion and $42 billion in Lebanon’s banks, which have imposed tight restrictions on foreign currency withdrawals in the past year.  

“This figure for an economy like Syria is terrifying,” he said during a state-sponsored fair in Damascus on Wednesday, according to the official SANA news agency. “It’s the money they put in Lebanese banks and we paid the price. This is the core of the problem that no one talks about.”

The Syrian economy, already ravaged by years of war and the regime’s own mismanagement, is in tatters. The currency crashed to an all-time low this June, causing soaring food prices, shortages of basic commodities and rare protests in government-held Syria. 

The economic crisis is just the latest hardship for Syria’s people, 83% of whom live beneath the poverty line. Residents of rebel-held northwest Syria, where some 2.8 million people rely on humanitarian aid to survive, are particularly vulnerable.