US eases export restrictions to Syria covering energy, telecom, infrastructure: Envoy

ANKARA/ISTANBUL

The US on Friday announced a targeted easing of export restrictions to Syria, allowing American companies to seek approvals for licenses in key sectors, including energy, telecommunications, infrastructure, and aviation, US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said.

“@POTUS’s bold decision on sanctions relief for Syria continues with @Commercegov’s easing of export controls, allowing approval of critical licenses for telecommunications, infrastructure, power, aviation and more,” said Barrack in a statement through the US social media company X.

According to Barrack, “stability requires allowing the economy to function.”

In a statement, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that the decision includes some easing of licensing requirements for civilian exports to Syria.

"As a result of today’s rule, U.S.-origin goods, software, and technology that have purely civilian uses (i.e., those classified under BIS’s regulations as 'EAR99'), as well as consumer communications devices and certain items related to civil aviation, can generally go to Syria without an export license," the statement said.

Also, the rule facilitates the approval of licenses for exports to Syria related to telecommunications infrastructure, sanitation, power generation, and civil aviation, the BIS noted.

"All other applications for exports of dual-use items to Syria will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. BIS will continue to restrict exports when the end-users of items are malign actors, including certain Syrian individuals and entities that remain subject to sanctions," it added.

The step follows earlier US Treasury measures removing Syria from certain sanctions lists under the Code of Federal Regulations.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said on Monday that the decision “ends restrictions first imposed in 2004 and later expanded throughout the Syrian conflict,” citing the termination of the national emergency on which the regulations were based.

Syria welcomed the prior decision, with its Foreign Ministry calling it “a positive development in the right direction, which will directly reflect on the humanitarian and economic conditions of the Syrian people.”

The decision comes in the wake of the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime last December.

Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia in December, ending the Ba'ath Party regime, which had been in power since 1963. A new transitional administration led by Ahmed al-Sharaa was formed in January.