Damascus (SANA) The United States has taken a further step toward easing restrictions on defense-related transactions with Syria after the State Department removed the country from a list subject to a policy of blanket denial under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), with the change taking effect Oct. 1.
Under the amendment, applications to export U.S. defense articles and services to Syria are no longer automatically subject to denial solely because Syria is the destination.
License applications can instead be reviewed and approved or rejected on a case-by-case basis.
The decision does not automatically open the way for U.S. arms exports to Syria. Transactions requiring licenses remain subject to approval by the relevant U.S. authorities and may face restrictions based on the type of equipment, recipient and intended end use.
From blanket denial to case-by-case review
Mohammad Alaa Ghanem, chief policy adviser at the Syrian American Council, said the main difference between the latest move and restrictions lifted several weeks earlier was that private U.S. companies, commercial firms and defense manufacturers could now apply to export defense equipment and services to Syria.
Previously, such applications were subject to a blanket denial policy, he said.
Ghanem said removing the restrictions did not mean transactions were automatically authorized. Instead, Syria can now enter a licensing process in which U.S. authorities may consider each application and either approve or reject it.
He described the move as another step, in his view, toward normalizing relations between Syria and the United States.
Ghanem said the combination of recent U.S. measures could also legally allow the U.S. government to consider providing defense equipment to Syria on favorable terms or without charge if Washington chose to do so, subject to U.S. laws and procedures.
Beyond weapons: Dual-use technology
Ghanem said the significance of the decision extends beyond conventional weapons because the U.S. defense industry encompasses technologies, software and equipment that can have both civilian and military applications.
Removing restrictions tied specifically to Syria as a destination could eliminate one legal obstacle to considering the export of some of those technologies, he said. Any exports, however, would remain subject to the classification of individual products and licensing by the relevant U.S. authorities.
Ghanem noted that other U.S. export restrictions remain in place, particularly restrictions administered by the U.S. Commerce Department.
He said easing those restrictions would be important for access to technologies that could serve civilian sectors, including medicine, education, industry and artificial intelligence.
Part of a broader process
Ghanem placed the decision within a series of U.S. measures aimed at removing legal restrictions that had limited broader cooperation between the two countries in recent years.
According to the U.S. State Department, the latest amendment removed Syria from the countries listed under Section 126.1 of ITAR, which had subjected exports of defense articles and services to a policy of denial.
In practical terms, the change shifts U.S. consideration of defense exports to Syria from a destination-based blanket denial to case-by-case review. It does not constitute advance approval for any transaction.
A/Dh – Mazen
