In a new 139-page report at the Observatory of Political and Economic Networks, Reinoud Leenders and Ali al-Jasem argue that targeted sanctions on regime officials, cronies, and front companies have effectively become the primary remaining tool to pursue justice for Assad-era crimes.
While broad sanctions were correctly lifted to support recovery, the Observatory’s assistants and authors meticulously tracked over the past year the fate and whereabouts of hundreds of sanctioned individuals and entities.
Many of those who remained or returned have cut opaque deals with the new authorities, a practice scathingly criticized in the report, with details being documented for the first time about this critical phase.
The authors are sensibly blunt in their conclusion: easing pressure on sanctioned persons without a clear transitional justice framework risks turning “stability” into permanent impunity.
Recovery without accountability is not a positive transition; it’s a reset of old patterns.
Full report: