US sanctions hold up Qatari aid to Syria

27/2/2025 6:17

Qatar is holding off

providing Syria's new rulers with funds to increase public

sector pay due to uncertainty over whether the transfers would

breach U.S. sanctions, four sources said, a setback to efforts

to revive the war-stricken economy.



The delay in Qatar's plan to help pay for the increase,

which Reuters reported in January, underlines the considerable

challenges Syria's new Islamist authorities face as they seek to

stabilise the fractured state and assure foreign powers about

their leadership.



While the previous U.S. administration issued a sanctions

exemption on January 6 to allow transactions with Syria's

governing institutions for six months, Qatar does not see this

as enough to cover payments it would need to make via the

central bank to finance the salary increase, the sources said.



Three of the sources said Qatar, a wealthy U.S. ally with

long-standing ties to groups that helped topple former Syrian

president Bashar al-Assad in December, is waiting for clarity

over U.S. President Donald Trump's policy towards Damascus.



Syria's new rulers are Islamists who had links to al Qaeda

until their leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, cut ties in 2016.



The country's interim finance minister said last month that

pay for many public sector workers would be increased by 400%

from February at an estimated monthly cost of 1.65 trillion

Syrian pounds ($130 million). He cited regional aid as one

source of funding for the increase.



Reuters could not determine how much Qatar was planning to

contribute.



The increase has yet to take effect.



Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a Syrian finance

ministry spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for

comment. The Treasury and White House also did not reply to

Reuters' questions.



A State Department spokesperson said: "We have nothing to

announce with regards to sanctions."



One of the sources, a U.S. official, said Qatar had not

begun paying salaries due to ambiguity over U.S. sanctions.



Another of the sources also said Qatar was not paying public

sector salaries but noted that Doha had sent two shipments of

liquefied petroleum gas to help alleviate crippling energy

shortages.







ECONOMIC CRISIS



Boosting the economy is a top priority for Sharaa. The

United Nations says nine out of 10 Syrians live in poverty.



His administration has also drawn up plans to cut a third of

jobs in the sprawling public sector, which was widely seen under

Assad as a way for his administration to secure loyalty through

salaries.



The U.S. sanctions exemption, valid until July 7, allows the

transfer of personal remittances through the Central Bank and

some energy transactions.



Known as a general license, it marked an effort to ease the

flow of humanitarian assistance.



But the action did not lift U.S. sanctions, the U.S.

Treasury said at the time.



Sharaa has called repeatedly for the lifting of Western

sanctions, imposed to isolate Assad for his brutal crackdown

during Syria's long civil war, which started in 2011, and to

generate pressure for a political solution to the conflict.



Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, in a speech

on Tuesday, said the government had succeeded in getting some

sanctions suspended or eased. Syrian officials have said the

sanctions have ceased to be justified since Assad was toppled.



On Monday, European Union countries suspended a range of

sanctions against Syria with immediate effect, including

restrictions related to energy, banking, transport and

reconstruction.



The Trump's administration has said little about its Syria

policy. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking on

February 16 during a trip to Jerusalem, struck a cautious tone,

saying that while Assad's fall was promising, it would not be a

positive development if Syria replaced one destabilising force

for another.



Western policy in Syria has been complicated by the jihadist

origins of Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the armed group

that led the campaign that toppled Assad and is designated a

terrorist group by world powers.



HTS emerged from the Nusra Front, al Qaeda affiliate in

Syria until Sharaa broke ties in 2016. HTS was officially

dissolved in January.