The Syrian regime has demanded an end to western sanctions, claiming they are hampering relief efforts in the wake of a devastating earthquake which has left over 2,500 dead since Monday.<\/p>\n
The Syrian Arab Red Cross appealed on Tuesday for western countries to lift sanctions, with its head saying "the time has come after the earthquake" for the EU to remove the punitive measures.<\/p>\n
Western sanctions were first imposed due to the Syrian regime’s bloody crackdown on peaceful protesters in 2011.<\/p>\n
"The regime will always want sanctions lifted, it doesn't matter what you ask, the answer will be: Lift the sanctions, it doesn't engage on this issue in good faith," Aron Lund, a fellow with The Century Foundation, told The New Arab<\/em>.<\/p>\n Still, Lund said that there should be "some form of conversation about the harm that sanctions do," noting that despite waivers issued by western powers, some types of sanctions do have a spillover effect.<\/p>\n "Some types of sanctions do hurt civilians and humanitarian efforts, including now after the earthquake. It's not just the regime saying so, it’s a longstanding complaint among NGOs," Lund said.<\/p>\n Damascus has further said that international aid should be routed through its capital, where it would send some "cross-line" to opposition-held areas in the country's northeast and northwest. <\/p>\n Experts have expressed reservations about the regime's calls for aid to flow through Damascus, saying cross-line deliveries are "infeasible."<\/p>\n "For logistical, political and administrative reasons, cross-line is not feasible. This aid is not coordinated with those actually saving lives on the ground in northwest Syria," Natasha Hall, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and Intelligence Studies (CSIS), told TNA<\/em>. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n