The Washington Post: An impending American accountability of Russia, Iran, and the Syrian regime for their crimes

ARK News: Historical legislation providing for US sanctions against the Assad regime, Russia and Iran for their past and ongoing war crimes in Syria has become about to be finally passed in the US Congress, more than (3) years after it was first proposed.

It is expected that the "Caesar" project when passed as a law, will ensure justice and accountability for the victims of Bashar Al-Assad, and give the United States leverage in finding a political solution to the Syrian war.

Media reports say President Donald Trump may sign the National Defense Authorization Act for 2020 after Congress - to which Caesar added the law to protect civilians - passes it under an agreement between the Republican and Democratic parties.

The bill permits the imposition of sanctions on senior regime officials and its military commanders, and on anyone else responsible for crimes committed against civilians in more than eight years. This means that the sanctions may affect Russian mercenaries and Iranian militias fighting alongside the regime forces in Syria. The legislation also includes penalties for several key sectors of the Syrian economy and any government or entity that supports the regime's army, before justice is done for Assad's victims.

The legislation also targets any country or entity trying to help Assad in reconstruction, and this means that the United States can punish any international company that contributes to the energy, construction, or engineering sectors in Syria, and anyone who funds the regime.

This legislation was called “Caesar’s Law”, after a pseudonym for a Syrian military cameraman who defected from the regime in 2013, and leaked more than (55) thousand photos documenting the killing and torturing of thousands of civilians in Assad's prisons. These photos have been verified by the FBI, and are shown worldwide.

Now, while the Syrian regime controls large parts of Syria, this law has the opportunity to pressure Assad and his allies to stop war crimes. "The world's failure to act toward Syria over an eight-year period is a black mark in history. Nothing can erase the suffering of losing hundreds of thousands of lives, but we need to do everything we can," says Elliot L. Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee“.

MP Adam Kinsinger says that Russia and Iran "will pay a price now, because of their direct involvement in the Assad war crimes ... The message of Caesar's bill is clear, we will not turn a blind eye to these atrocities, and we will make sure that officials will pay the price of their crimes."

Behind the scenes, a large part of pushing the legislation toward approval was the work of a Syrian-American non-governmental organization, called the Syrian Emergency Action Group, and its CEO Mo’az Mustafa says that the Caesar bill is a “step toward accountability, justice, and peace in Syria, even if war crimes continue.

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