The Syrian National Coalition’s Secretary-General, Abdelbaset Abdullatif, said that the issues and decrees being issued by the Assad regime serve its repressive policies and are part of its desperate attempts to cling to power.
Abdullatif said that the regime’s recent amendment of the regulations of the compulsory military service came in the same context as the laws it issued for the real estate and endowment. He said: “The Assad regime is effectively saying: either you participate in killing your people or you fund this killing, or we will seize your property and sell it off to continue with our criminal mission.”
The Assad regime’s intentions and goals can no longer be hidden from anyone, Abdullatif said, adding that these politicized laws come from a regime that has long lost its legitimacy. He said that the issuance of these laws and decrees is nothing but a declaration of the regime’s moral and financial bankruptcy.
He pointed out that the Assad regime is suffering a mounting economic crisis due to the decline of cash flow from its Iranian ally and the imminent implementation of the Caesar Act. The latest law aims to replenish the regime’s coffers with foreign currencies as it stipulated that the paid military exemption must be paid in US dollar or in its equivalent of the Syrian pound, he said, noting that Assad regime admitted that it does not trust the stability of the exchange rate of the Syrian pound.
Moreover, Abdullatif said that the latest law will put increasing pressure on military-aged people to join the ranks of the regime’s dilapidated forces and their allied sectarian militias as they cannot afford the exorbitant financial consequences. The law also represents a new gift for the corrupt regime’s cronies who will benefit from this amendment of the law by buying the confiscated property and assets.
He stressed that the Syrian people will not accept funding the killing of their fellow Syrians as they are well aware that such moves are void and null and that a state that is based on the rule of law and freedom will eventually replace the current state. (Source: Syrian National Coalition’s Media Department)
