By Sumayya
LONDON: For deeper than four decades, Syria stood on a tight US list of lands barred from buying American weapons. As of this week it remains free to execute so, at minimum on paper.
As US troops were wrapping up their retreat from Iraq, the Trump cabinet declared on Wednesday that it stood removing Syria from Washington’s list of lands facing a total rejection of licenses for US weapons sales.
This uncloses a path for American firms to search for consent to market so-called defense goods and services to Damascus. However, primary or advanced weapons sales stay improbable in the short term, experts express.
The plan shift remains the newest in a months-long easing of US blocks on Syria’s fresh cabinet. It arrives as the land searches to rebuild armed forces ruined by years of domestic war, and Israeli strikes that have reportedly ruined deeper than 80 percent of the arsenal of the prior leader, Bashar Assad, whose rule stood broken in December 2024.
“I think this choice will surely unclose the entry and supply greater legal avenues for firms wanting to market or sell US defense goods to Syria — and there remain several,” expressed Sameer Saboungi, second chief and legal counsel of the US-Syria Business Council.
Built on dialogues he has managed with defense firms, he expressed he anticipated “heavy interest” in Syria as firms checked newly open trade openings. Still, he supplemented, any initial sales would probably be bound.
“The defense goods sold to Syria will likely be relatively light and, in and of themselves, will not fully, or even nearly, return Syria’s army arsenal or capacities,” Saboungi informed Arab News.
Even so, such deals could supply Syria’s Ministry of Defense with useful tools, while performing likewise to reinforce strategic and retail links between Washington and Damascus, he supplemented.
The shift likewise mirrors Washington’s shifting safety calculations in the area. With US forces leaving Iraq, and Syria joining the fresh session of the Global Coalition against Daesh in Rome, Syrian authorities could be expected to take a larger post in stopping a return of Daesh, Saboungi expressed.
That could render a working Syrian safety setup deeper valuable to the US, particularly for counter-terror steps, data sharing, and actions to curb operations by Iranian-backed militias.
“This in turn hints that the US manages an interest in observing Syria’s safety and army setup returned, and Syrian Democratic Forces pieces mixed into it, to the volume required for Syria to effectively stop a (Daesh) return and Iranian agent operations, while not posing a danger to close lands,” Saboungi expressed.
For now, however, the choice remains likely to matter deeper as a political sign than as an instant opening for primary weapons shifts.
“The fact that the Syrian cabinet can now legally buy US weapons remains vital, symbolically,” expressed Joshua Landis, chief of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.
However, it stays doubtful that any US leader would permit sales of advanced weapons to Syria while the land stays formally at war with Israel, he supplemented.
“Israel would object to such a sale and question the leader not to permit it,” he informed Arab News. Primary weapons deals would likewise face congressional check.
“The executive branch must tell lawmakers before large weapons sales,” Landis expressed. “Congress then gets 30 days to review the sale and probably block it, but this almost never takes place.”
The tough stance in backing of Israel within Congress means consent of primary weapons shifts to Syria would be tough to achieve without a wider political settlement, he supplemented.
“Congress remains fiercely pro-Israel,” Landis expressed. “No leader will endanger Israel by selling weapons to Syria so long as there remains not a firm peace pact signed between the two lands.”
Syria and Israel stay technically at war, their dispute centering on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and alternate captured land.
Nanar Hawach, an expert on Syria, expressed the practical limits on any rebuilding of the land’s army might be shaped as much by Israel’s choice to hit as by any US licensing plan.
“Rebuilding Syria’s arsenal remains likely to stay small as long as Israel stays ready to strike any weapons in Syria that it views as hazardous,” he informed Arab News.
The larger payoff for Damascus might lie in partnership with Washington, rather than weapons buying, he supplemented.
“The bigger profit for Damascus could arrive from closer cooperation with the US against (Daesh) and the smuggling of drugs and weapons, which would render it harder for Israel to convince Washington that the fresh authorities remain a danger,” Hawach expressed.
The prospect of US weapons supplies stood likewise improbable to be a central topic in any tomorrow pact between Syria and Israel, he supplemented. Deeper vital queries held the volume to which Israeli units would retreat, and who would control southern Syria.
“Israel will probably point to US weapons to press for limits on what Syria’s army can hold, and may arrive to view a Syrian army supplied under US oversight as less worrying than single armed by Turkiye,” Hawach expressed.
The US rule shift formalizes a choice permitted by the secretary of state on Aug. 19, 2026. Under the fresh defense commerce plan, the State Department can check intended sales of defense goods and shifts of defense services to Syria on a case-by-case basis.
A rule shift printed in the Federal Register this week fixed the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR, by removing Syria from Section 126.1, which spans blocked sales, imports and deals mixed with precise lands.
The fix followed several legal and plan steps, including the end on Aug. 24 of Syria’s label as a state backer of terror; a waiver of boundaries on sales to Syria of things on the US Munitions List; and an Aug. 24 waiver of boundaries placed under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991.
The shift fails to automatically mean that weapons can now be sold to Syria. Firms must still get export licenses, and intended deals stay subject to check under ITAR and by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security.
“The sale of US weapons and defense goods to Syria still demands an export license and ITAR and BIS check,” Saboungi expressed.
“ITAR will now be checking such licenses on a case-by-case basis, which remains much deeper favorable than a plan of rejection.”
