Sanctions relief for North and East Syria: US to allow foreign investment

NORTH AND EAST SYRIA — On Wednesday, Acting Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland announced at a conference of the Global Coalition Against the Islamic State in Marrakech, Morocco, that the U.S. will issue a general license that would allow limited foreign investment in North and East Syria.

“The US plans to issue a broad license in the next days to encourage private economic investment activities in non-regime held areas of Syria liberated from ISIS,” she added.

In 2019, the U.S. administration issued the Caesar Act sanctions against the Syrian government and all entities who support it financially and technically. Unfortunately this included all Syrian territory, even if this was no longer under the direct control of the Syrian Ba’ath Regime.

Rumors about a potential move by the U.S. to carve out sanctions relief for North and East Syria have circulated since March of this year. The license would apply to agricultural and restoration work, but not to oil, according to a diplomat who has studied the topic extensively with U.S. authorities.

Nuland told Coalition members that Washington hoped to raise $350 million this year for stabilization initiatives in North and East Syria after spending $45 million the previous year.