PSP Criticizes Assad’s Remarks on Lebanese Banks

The Progressive Socialist Party of ex-MP Walid Jumblat criticized Syrian President Bashar Assad on Friday, saying his remarks blaming the economic crisis in Syria on Lebanese Banks only confirm a “clear scheme to knock Lebanon’s banking sector.”

Assad's “statement yesterday that Lebanese banks are to blame for the economic crisis in Syria requires a decisive response to this rudeness and perseverance attempting to overwhelm Lebanon with the sinking Syrian regime,” the PSP statement said.

It added stating that one of the causes that aggravated the Lebanese economic crisis and drained its public finances, “is owed to corruption channels engineered by the Syrian Ba'ath regime in Lebanon that continued to deplete Lebanon even after the withdrawal of Syrian troops.”

“Syrian depositors resorted to Lebanese banks in order to benefit from their contributions,” noted the PSP. Adding “this would not have happened had it not been for the fact that their deposits were subject to extortion and theft if they remained in Syrian banks."

“Assad’s remarks came to prove a clear plan to knock the Lebanese banking sector which had always been a safe and stable haven for brethren Arabs,” the statement went on.

On Thursday, Assad said much of his country's current economic distress is a direct result of the banking crisis in neighboring Lebanon, where many Syrian businessmen have traditionally kept their money.

He said that between $20 billion and $42 billion held by Syrians are estimated to be tied up in Lebanese banks.

Lebanon is experiencing a serious banking crisis, which has led to the introduction of informal capital controls to combat capital flight and prop a flailing local currency. Depositors are unable to make foreign transfers and there is a limit on how much they can withdraw.

Lebanese banks had offered a lifeline to the Syrian economy, which under the Assad family rule faced decades of Western sanctions that often targeted individual businessmen and cut off Syrian banks.

Syria's economy is in shambles and the nine-year civil war has killed more than 400,000 and displaced half the country's population. The local Syrian currency crashed in recent months making it more difficult for many Syrians to buy food. More than 80% of the Syrian population live in poverty, according to U.N.

The spread of coronavirus in the war-torn country has further restricted economic activities and increased unemployment.