Syria's Assad must compromise or face sanctions, US warns

Kelly Craft, the US ambassador to the United Nations, urged him to accept a Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire, elections and political transition along with UN-led talks.

"The Assad regime has a clear choice to make: pursue the political path established in Resolution 2254, or leave the United States with no other choice but to continue withholding reconstruction funding and impose sanctions against the regime and its financial backers," Craft said.

The comments came just a day before new US sanctions against the Syrian regime are due to come into force.

The US law targets companies that deal with President Bashar al-Assad's regime, which Hezbollah, Tehran and Moscow support in Syria's conflict.

It imposes financial restrictions on the Damascus government to compel it to halt "attacks on the Syrian people", and it is expected for the first time to target Russian and Iranian entities active in Syria.

The Syrian government and loyalist businessmen are already targeted by US and European economic sanctions.

After nine years of war, Syria is mired in an economic crisis compounded by a coronavirus lockdown and a dollar liquidity crisis in Lebanon, a major conduit for regime-held regions.

A large chunk of Syria's population is living in poverty, prices have soared and the value of the Syrian pound has hit record lows against the dollar on the black market.

Responding to the sanctions, the head of the Lebanese movement Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah said the move was designed to "starve" the country and its neighbour Lebanon.

"The Caesar Act aims to starve Lebanon just as it aims to starve Syria," Nasrallah said in a televised speech.

"Syria has won the war... militarily, in security terms and politically," he added, describing the law as Washington's "last weapon" against Damascus.

Read also: UK Syrian refugee who lost leg in war walks to raise funds for migrant camps

Nasrallah also accused the United States of engineering the collapse of the Syrian currency, but vowed that Assad's allies would stand by the regime.

"The allies of Syria, which stood by its side during the war... will not abandon Syria in the face of economic warfare and will not allow its fall, even if they are themselves going through difficult circumstances," he said.

Lebanon too is experiencing the worst financial meltdown since the end of its own 1975-1990 civil war, as well as being rocked by months of anti-government protests.

Nasrallah called on the Lebanese government "not to submit" to the Caesar Act.

Agencies contributed to this report.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay connected