Waleed Al-Faisal and colleagues (July, 2015)1 call for an end to sanctions in Syria. Sanctions do have unintended consequences for innocent citizens, but those imposed on Syria have been mostly on weapons and items of dual use, many of which were imposed years before the onset of the present conflict,2 including the period of the positive achievements in health care mentioned by Al-Faisal and colleagues. Furthermore, humanitarian items and drugs were exempted from the sanctions.