Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad blamed the financial downfall in Lebanon and not the sweeping US sanctions as the root cause of the ongoing economic crisis in the war-torn country.

Speaking during a tour of a trade fair broadcast on state media on Wednesday, Assad said billions of dollars of deposits held by his countrymen in Lebanon’s financial sector that were blocked after a major financial crisis were a main cause of Syria’s deepening economic crisis.

“The economic problem has another reason which is the money that have been taken by the Syrians who deposited them in Lebanon, and when the banks in Lebanon have closed, we have paid the price. This is the essence of the problem,” He was quoted by SANA news agency.

“The current crisis is not connected to the blockade… the blockade is there since many years… this doesn’t mean that the blockade is good or the Americans are innocents… the crisis has begun since a number of months before Caesar Act.”

The Syrian President said anywhere from $20 billion to $42 billion of Syrian deposits could have been lost in the once vibrant banking sector that held over $170 billion in foreign currency deposits.

“The money that have gone, in minimum they say that they were nearly 20 billion USD, and in maximum some say they were nearly 42 billion USD,” Assad said, noting that “it is a huge number” and that “this figure for an economy like Syria is terrifying.”

Lebanon’s bank vaults have long been stashed with Syrian money, with Syrian investors seeking a haven for their cash during years of foreign-sponsored crisis.

With its economy devastated by a financial crisis, Lebanon has seen its pound continue to plummet against the US dollar. The currency has lost more than 80 percent of its value over the last weeks while sources of foreign currency have dried up.

Source: SANA and Reuters