Welcome to pushback. I'm Erin Mate. In June, the U.S. imposed its harshest sanctions on Syria to date,

prompting the World Food Program to warn of, quote, mass starvation or another Max Exodus.

The U.S. sanctions law, known as the Caesar Act, openly states that its strategy

is to prevent reconstruction in government-held areas where most Syrians live, in which

the Syrian government now controls after defeating a decade-long devastating proxy war waged

by the U.S. and its allies. In a new article for foreign affairs, scholar Joshua Landis and former Obama administration

official Steve Simon, write that the current U.S. sanctions policy, quote, further

emissorates the Syrian people, blocks reconstruction efforts, and strangles the economy

that sustains a desperate population during Syria's growing humanitarian and public health crises.

Well, joining me is the co-author of the piece.

Joshua Landis is the Sandra Mackey Professor of Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

Joshua Landis, welcome to pushback.

It's a pleasure being with you, Aaron.

So lay out for us what these Caesar Act sanctions do to Syria

and why you have written this article in opposition.

Well, the sanctions are, the stated reason for the sanctions is that they are to, they're to force the Assad regime to accept UN resolutions, which call for free elections, free and fair elections to end the sectarian form of government and to start a political process

that the special envoy to the United States, James Jeffrey, has said would lead to Assad leaving power.

So in a sense, this is regime change. He has said it's not about regime change,

and the Trump administration people say, we don't insist on regime change. We want a radical

change of regime behavior. But we know that's not going to happen. Osat has won the war,

and these sanctions end up, you know, emiserating the Syrian people

is what it, you know, Assad is going to be able to eat three square meals a day.

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