Ottawa has announced $84 million in new funding for humanitarian assistance in Syria and is taking steps to temporarily ease sanctions imposed on the former Assad regime, saying this will facilitate aid delivery and support the country’s political stabilization.
The funding response to the crisis in Syria will provide humanitarian aid, including food, health care, protection services, clean water, and sanitation, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said in a March 12 joint
statement with then-International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen. The new amount will bring Canada’s total humanitarian aid to Syria this year to more than $100 million.
“Canada expresses its deep concern about the egregious violence that is occurring in Syria over the past few days in the Tartus, Latakia and Homs provinces,” reads the statement. “We remain committed to ensuring that vital humanitarian aid reaches those in need.”
Easing Sanctions
The federal government has issued a six-month general permit allowing any person in Canada and Canadians abroad to transfer funds and carry out related financial activities directed to Syria, as long as they support “democratization, stabilization, and the delivery of humanitarian assistance,” the ministers said.Such actions are generally prohibited under Ottawa’s “Syria
Regulations,” a series of
sanctions Canada first introduced in 2011 against members of the then-Syrian regime, citing concerns about the government’s crackdown on dissidents and the resulting humanitarian crisis in the region. Additional sanctions have since been imposed.
The sanctions include restrictions on transactions with specific Syrian individuals and entities, as well as prohibitions on the import and export of goods, investments, and the provision or acquisition of financial services involving Syria.
The new permit allowing activities and transactions is valid until Aug. 25.
Canada has provided more than $4.7 billion in funding to Syria and nations hosting Syrian refugees since 2016, and has resettled more than 100,000 refugees from that country since 2015.
Killing of Civilians
Ministers Joly and Hussen in their statement also condemned the killing of civilians in Syria last week, calling on the authorities to “take all necessary measures to end the violence.”Reports emerged last week indicating that forces of the new Syrian government
killed hundreds of Alawite civilians in northwest Syria amid efforts to assert control over the region. Alawites are an ethnoreligious minority, of which former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, who was
removed from power last December, was a member.
The current de facto government in Damascus is formed by members of a Sunni Islamist group known as HTS, which is designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government. It emerged from al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of the al-Qaeda terrorist group.
The recent killings drew international reaction, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on March 9 condemning the violence and
urging Syrian authorities to “hold the perpetrators of these massacres against Syria’s minority communities accountable.”
Syria’s interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, has
promised to investigate the events. On March 9, he announced the formation of a fact-finding committee, pledging to reveal who was behind the killings and bring perpetrators to justice.
Canada also said it welcomes the recent agreement reached between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). On March 10, the current de facto government
signed a deal with the U.S.-backed SDF, reintegrating the northeast with the rest of the country.
The SDF was created with U.S. backing in 2015 and helped defeat ISIS in eastern Syria by 2019, eventually creating a self-ruling region in the oil-rich northeast of the country. It is led by Kurdish Syrians, one of the country’s ethnic minorities.
The new agreement, the
text of which was published by Syria’s state-run news agency, SANA, guarantees the rights of all Syrians to political participation and representation “regardless of their religious and ethnic backgrounds.” It also recognizes the Kurdish community “as an integral part of the Syrian state, with the Syrian state guaranteeing their right to citizenship and all constitutional rights.” Additionally, it establishes a ceasefire across the country, among other provisions.
Ottawa has signalled its intention to restore diplomatic presence in Syria, saying it will help work with local and international actors to “support peace and political stabilization.” For this, it has nominated Canada’s ambassador to Lebanon, Stefanie McCollum, to serve concurrently as non-resident ambassador to Syria.
“Canada reaffirms its commitment to support a peaceful and inclusive Syrian-led political transition that reflects the country’s ethnic and religious diversity,” said Joly and Hussen.
“We call on all parties to prioritize the work toward de-escalation and national reconciliation and prevent the country from descending into fragmentation and violence.”
Chris Summers and Ryan Morgan contributed to this report.
