Sinam Mohamad, a leading member of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), contended that sanctions are hurting the population as well as the Syrian government.

Mohamad, the SDC’s chief diplomat in Washington, told the National Interest on Monday that sanctions are having a “negative effect” on the entire population due to high prices caused by the depreciation of the Syrian lira relative to the dollar.

She added that a “political solution for the Syrian crisis” has become “critical” due to the addition of the coronavirus crisis.

The SDC is the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which controls large parts of northeastern Syria.

Syria reported its first death from the coronavirus in the government-controlled territory on Sunday. Religious pilgrims returning from Syria may be spreading the coronavirus to neighboring Iraq as well. International observers have warned that territory controlled by the northwestern rebels, the Syrian Democratic Forces, and the Assad regime are all dangerously vulnerable to coronavirus outbreaks.

The United States and European Union have imposed various sanctions against the Syrian government since the Syrian Civil War began in 2011. U.S. Congress most recently passed the Caesar Act, which cements the sanctions regime targeting various sectors of the Syrian economy, in January 2020.

U.S. sanctions law exempts humanitarian organizations operating in Syria, and the U.S. Treasury has issued numerous general licenses for financial transactions to rebel groups in the northwest, where the White Helmets operate.

But the U.S. Treasury has not issued these licenses to the SDC-affiliated autonomous administration, preventing it from exporting oil or performing many other transactions with the outside world.

The United Nations stopped using a border crossing into SDC-controlled territory for humanitarian aid last year, forcing the SDC to rely on the central government in Damascus. The border crossings from Turkey to the rebel-held northwest remain open.

Reporter’s code: 50101