IslamicFinance.de

As the White House considers taking military action against Syria for its use of chemical weapons against civilians, the president should also consider using an additional tool to force the Syrian regime to change course: stepping up economic warfare against Syrian banks and institutions that do business with them. This type of effort can have measurable impact for a simple reason: the Assad government needs money. Without hard currency and access to the international market, the regime will find it far more difficult to fund its military and its ability to purchase Russian weapons will be limited. Syria is vulnerable to economic warfare, which would hurt the regime where it is weakest: its pocketbook.