Washington eases sanctions on Syria

The US Treasury announced that it is offering several months of sanctions relief to Syria in order to allow some transactions for post-earthquake recovery efforts.

“Today, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued General License for Syria (GL) 23, which authorizes for 180 days all transactions related to earthquake relief that would otherwise be prohibited by the Syria Sanctions Regulations (SySR),” the Treasury Department said in a statement on Thursday.

Earlier this week, deadly earthquakes hit northern Kurdistan, Turkey as well as Syria, where about 20,000 people lost their lives and tens of thousands of others were injured.

The Treasury also said, “The US government has long had many sanctions waivers in place in Syria to allow for most activities supporting humanitarian aid, including in regime-held areas, by the United Nations, the US government, or nongovernmental organizations.” that engage in transactions to support certain non-profit activities.

The department added that this new authorization expands existing sanctions waivers already in place in Syria for nongovernmental organizations, international organizations and the US government.

The Treasury Department said it will continue to monitor the situation in Syria and communicate with key humanitarian and disaster assistance stakeholders and key partners and allies to understand emerging challenges they may face in providing services amid recovery efforts.

Earlier on Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said sanctions should not interfere with relief efforts in Syria as the country deals with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake.

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ANHA