The United States has begun issuing the new licenses to allow some financial transactions within Syria after years of sanctions designed to keep pressure on former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
On Jan. 6, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a general license permitting a range of transactions in Syria. The license is good for a six month period ending on July 7, with OFAC signaling they’re still keeping an eye on post-Assad Syria.
“During this period of transition, Treasury will continue to support humanitarian assistance and responsible governance in Syria,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said.
The move comes after Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a Sunni Islamist organization that the United States has designated as a terrorist group, launched a surprise offensive against those parts of Syria that Assad had controlled. HTS is a rebrand of Jabhat al-Nusra, which was itself an offshoot of al-Qaeda.
The HTS-led offensive began in late November, and by Dec. 8, Assad chose to flee to Russia, ending his 24-year tenure as president of Syria.
Pro-Assad forces had fought to keep him in power since 2011, in what has been a multi-sided civil war across Syria. Other factions that have fought throughout the civil war are still at odds, even as the pro-Assad forces have either surrendered or fled the country.
After taking the Syrian capital city of Damascus, HTS declared a caretaker government with several of its members in positions of power. Even as they’ve maintained the terrorist group designation against HTS, President Joe Biden’s administration has shown a willingness to give them some breathing room following Assad’s fall from power.
Last month, the Biden administration retracted a $10 million bounty against HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. Barbara A. Leaf, the assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, met with Sharaa in Syria the same day the administration dropped the bounty.
Leaf cast the decision to drop the bounty as a move to facilitate her discussion with Sharaa and said the HTS leader shared some “pragmatic and moderate” statements during their meeting.
This latest move to ease sanctions against Syria also followed urging from several U.S. lawmakers, including Reps. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Brendan Boyle (D-PA). Wilson and Boyle authored a letter to the administration last month, encouraging it to begin targeted sanctions. The two lawmakers said it was necessary to enable reconstruction and economic development that the United States helped halt during the Assad years, in hopes of keeping Assad at odds with Syrian society.
The Treasury Department said this new license would “help ensure that sanctions do not impede essential services and continuity of governance functions across Syria, including the provision of electricity, energy, water, and sanitation.”
The Treasury Department said this license will not unblock any frozen assets belonging to sanctioned members of the Assad government, the Central Bank of Syria, or HTS, nor would it allow transactions with any sanctioned individuals. The licenses will allow transactions with the governing authorities now in power in Syria, as well as transactions for “noncommercial, personal remittances to Syria, including through the Central Bank of Syria.” The license also allows transactions that enable the flow of energy and fuel for the country.
It remains to be seen how the new HTS-led caretaker government will steer the country going forward. Sharaa said the decision to name HTS members to positions of power was not meant as a snub of the other factions that have fought against Assad over the years, but rather a first effort to stabilize the country.
Sharaa has said he expects the various factions will gather for a national conference in March and begin laying out a more complete vision for post-Assad Syria. Still, he has said he expects it may take up to three years to draft a new constitution, and another year thereafter to conduct a population census and arrange a first set of elections.
This article was originally published by FreeBase News and is reprinted with permission.
