Short video from popular North American Vlogger Drew Binsky, olne of several he made on his 2019 visit to Syria. His orignal posts (and others) is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clUne5DtBsA ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uHgBQMNvso

From Ruptly, 18 July 2021 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the main impediment to investment in the country was Syrian citizens' frozen funds in Lebanese banks, during the swearing-in ceremony held at the presidential palace in Damascus on Saturday. "There are obstacles, and the biggest obstacle currently is the Syrian funds frozen in Lebanese banks, which are estimated at tens of billions, some say 40 and some say 60 [billion dollars], both numbers are sufficient to thwart an economy the size of ours,” al-Assad said. He added, "it was followed by the blockade, which was not able to prevent us from securing basic needs, but it created some choke points, nor did it deprive us of production means and materials, but it created difficulties." Since the start of the economic crisis in Lebanon in 2019, Lebanese banks have locked depositors out of their accounts and blocked transfers abroad, including those belonging to Syrian citizens and used to maintain businesses with other countries. Al-Assad was sworn in for a seven-year term in office after winning more than 95.1 percent of the votes cast in government-held areas in May. SOT, Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria (Arabic):“I swear by Almighty God to respect the country’s constitution and its republican public sector, to look after the people’s interests and freedoms, to preserve the nation’s sovereignty, independence and freedom, to defend the integrity of its land, and to work towards achieving justice and the unity of the Arab nation.” SOT, Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria (Arabic):“They wanted it to be divided, to complete what their ancestors had divided a hundred years ago, so you curbed their illusions and, with your national unity, at home and abroad, fired a bullet of mercy against the projects of their sectarian and ethnic strife.” SOT, Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria (Arabic):"In the early stages, the enemies' bet was on our fear of terrorism and our despair of liberation. Today, the bet is on turning the Syrian citizen into a mercenary who sells his homeland and its values for a conditional handful of dollars, or a humiliated living for which they give him alms." SOT, Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria (Arabic): "These propositions that continue today, and which are being worked on through some agents appointed by them by Turkey, or with Turkish mediation or with a Turkish front, does not matter, they ultimately aim to reach a constitution that places Syria at the mercy of foreign powers." SOT, Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria (Arabic):"I repeat once again my call to everyone who was deceived by them, for everyone who bet on the fall of the homeland, for everyone who bet on the collapse of the state, to return to the bosom of the homeland, becaus ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfI1cFDxsZU