Syria’s momentary respite: victory against India in AFC Asia Cup

Syria's national football team has managed to reach the Round of 16 in the 2023-24 AFC Asia Cup, after defeating India in a 1-0 nail-biting thriller. Syria's current FIFA ranking is 91 while India's is 101. However, ranking is not the key thing here. The fact that a country marred by war, deaths, destruction, division and uncertainty has somehow succeeded in defeating an opponent from a nation with the fifth largest economy on Earth is yet another of those underrated incidents with the message which goes on to show that success is very much possible despite sheer overwhelming odds. 

Never mind the fact that Syria's GDP ranks 128, with literally no reserves in the World Bank and IMF. The civil war that started in 2011, as well as the numerous sanctions placed on Syria by the United States and its allies, crippled the country's economy. Syria's exports in 2021 were around 1.01 billion dollars and the materials which get sent mainly comprise various groceries. 

Economic difficulties

The European market is also mostly closed for Syria, with the exception of Germany and Serbia. So is the North American market. The lack of productivity in the country is mostly because of the shortage of raw materials availability, which are banned from being exported over there because of the economic embargoes placed by the Western powers. 

Since the US holds leverage over world transactions because of the dollar being a global currency, sanctions have been powerful 'non-lethal' tools for America to put financial pressure upon its adversaries. Except these 'non-lethal' tools mostly end up hurting the civilian populations of the adversaries and not really the politicians in charge. This is because a country under sanctions cannot effectively buy certain manufactured items with the dollar. 

Mostly such items are often hospital ventilators, mechanical parts for cars, generators and so on. Especially for a country like Syria which is still in the midst of a conflict, these necessary items are often mandatory for population requirements. Hence, with already such a low export revenue and even not being able to buy the necessities from the Western market for its civilians, Syria has switched to alternative trading partners like China and Saudi Arabia. China - as of now - is the second largest economy but they too do most of their transactions in dollars. 

Alternative resources

Yet China also happens to be the largest exporter to the US and in reality, both of these superpowers are intertwined in an economic deadlock with each other from where neither of them can separate. However, China - being a member of the BRICS alliance - is trying to come up with a solution for reducing dependency on dollar trade. The Chinese Yuan (or Renminbi, as it is also known) - as of now - is the fifth most traded currency in the world with the fastest growth rate of 62.7%. 

However, its proportion by volume is still lagging far behind the US dollar. Nevertheless, the certain grip that China has on the US economy is sometimes implemented by the Chinese authorities to their advantage. One of those implementations is obviously sanctions evasion. Syria therefore gets a share of this advantage by continuing to trade in dollars, since Syria's major import hub is China right now.  

Despite all of that, Syria cannot purchase major high-tech industrial items from its import partners. Two reasons primarily are: 1) These materials are too expensive and  Syria's foreign reserves are already depleted and 2) A lot of Arab countries just recently started normalizing trade relations with Syria. Now the latter happened after Syria was re-admitted into the Arab League last year after nearly a decade of suspension since 2011. 

This proved to be ultimately beneficial for Syria since the Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain also hold a certain economic hold over the US, much like China. Syria also has built good trade relations with India in recent years. Moreover, with the emergence of BRICS (of which Saudi Arabia is also a part), more and more countries are now trying to join the bloc in order to find seek a route to 'de-dollarization' - an alternative pathway for reducing dollar dependency. Such countries are looking to trade in a different currency - like the Chinese Yuan, let's say. However, geopolitical rivalry between India and China (both of which are BRICS member states) has made it very difficult to achieve this goal.

The Syrian Civil War

Syria's civil war was initiated by a series of violent crackdowns on anti-government protesters, following the accession of Bashar Al-Assad to power. Assad stepped into the presidency following the death of his father in 2000, at the age of 35. He - being the only candidate to contest - won the Syrian presidential election in 2000 with an overwhelming vote of 97.29%,  even going on to win the subsequent state elections later on. Independent observers called these victories 'sham' and noted the opposition boycotts. Assad has been cited as a 'dictator' repeatedly by the US and its allies. The Syrian Observation For Human Rights - a British-owned pro-rebel watch group - has accused Assad of committing war crimes, which include the repeated usage of chemical weapons. 

During the ongoing civil war, the US supported, trained and provided funds to the various rebel factions who have been fighting to topple Assad's regime. The Russian military intervention in Syria in 2015 turned the tables in favour of Assad after Vladimir Putin announced his support for the Syrian counterpart and a vast majority of the country's territory is currently under the control of the government forces. 

However, the US supported Kurdish rebels - despite being pushed back - control the northeastern region of Syria which also happens to be the oil-rich portion of the nation. Since Syria borders Turkey, the Kurdish rebels - whom Turkish president Erdogan perceives as a national threat - are often subjected to attacks from the TAF. Under the pretext of securing its borders, Turkey launched an invasion of Syria in northern Syria and is now occupying the city of Idlib in that region.  

This left the US in a dilemma because Turkey also is a NATO member state, so the US cannot risk a direct confrontation with its bloc partner. But at the same time, it doesn't want to leave behind the Kurds either since the rebels might be defeated by Assad without US support. Hitherto, the US - to this day - continues to illegally occupy Syria in the northeastern oil region and the Assad administration has accused the US of stealing the country's oil. 

It's important to note that oil used to make up one-quarter of Syria's export revenues. With the oil-rich region of Syria occupied by the US, Kurds and Turkey, the country's primary source of income has been halted for quite some time now. Former US president Donald Trump boasted about 'keeping the oil' in a press conference in 2019. Trump also authorized the Caesar Act the same year to tighten the sanctions placed on Syria, targeting various entities in the echelon of the country's administration. Syria ultimately has been a battleground for the global powers in their ventures for their respective interests. 

Ray of light in a room of darkness

All of these have been accomplished at the expense of the Syrian people. According to statistical reports from ILO and World Bank, around 50 percent of Syrian people are unemployed. In such dire conditions, it is very surprising that the Syrian Football Federation is managing to operate effectively enough to keep their players motivated enough to play for the country. Nonetheless, they must be doing really well somehow as is proven by the passionate celebrations of the Syrian footballers after their victory against India on 23 January. 

The people from Syria who came to watch the game in Qatar also had their fair share of joyous moments - a rare respite from all the hard times they have been in. This could also be a great morale booster in their upcoming game against Iran in the knockout stage on 30 January. Syria is also in a solid position to qualify for the next FIFA World Cup. In a time when Syrians desperately need some moments of joy, these events will surely be cherished for a long time.