UN Security Council weighs sanctions relief for Syria's leaders in potential turning point for Damascus

Syria's President Ahmad Al Shara speaks during the UN General Assembly on September 24 in New York City. AFP

The UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution that would ease long-standing sanctions on Syrian officials and restore international dealings with its government, in the most significant shift in policy towards Damascus in more than a decade.

The US-drafted resolution was circulated among the Council’s 15 members on October 9. It would allow the flow of financial assets, funds and economic resources to Syria’s central government.

The text, seen by The National, underscores the tension at the heart of the international community’s Syria policy: how to re-engage a government once ostracised for its brutality while keeping pressure on armed groups still considered to be terrorist organisations.

The draft stresses that member states, including Syria, must continue to “prevent and suppress terrorist acts committed specifically by ISIS and all other individuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated with Al Qaeda or ISIS,” while ensuring that no Syrian actor provides support to such groups.

If adopted, the measure would also relax limits on arms transfers, allowing under UN supervision the provision of equipment and technical expertise for narrowly defined purposes, including chemical weapons disposal, nuclear protection and demining operations, which diplomats say are essential for rebuilding infrastructure and enabling displaced Syrians to return home.

People celebrate after US President Donald Trump said he would order the lifting of sanctions on Syria, in Damascus, on May 13. Reuters

It also calls for delisting President Ahmad Al Shara and his Interior Minister, Anas Khattab, from the UN’s sanctions list “effective as of the date" of the resolution.

According to a UN diplomat, China has indicated it is comfortable with the proposed delistings, in a rare moment of consensus among the five permanent members on the Security Council.

Even so, Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, the dissolved militant faction that forms the backbone of Mr Al Shara’s government, would remain under UN sanctions.

HTS traces its origins to Jabhat Al Nusra, Al Qaeda’s former Syrian affiliate that rebranded itself in 2017 in an effort to shed its extremist image.

Acting under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, the draft “decides” that the asset freeze imposed under previous counter-terrorism resolutions would no longer apply to funds or economic resources provided to the Syrian government.

It urges states and institutions to take steps to ensure that any money or assets do not benefit people or entities still listed under the UN’s ISIS and Al Qaeda sanctions regime.

Maya Ungar, a UN analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the resolution contains two provisions that could be decisive for Syria’s recovery and reconstruction.

“The first is a clarification that asset freezes no longer apply to the Syrian government, even if sanctioned individuals are part of it,” Ms Ungar told The National.

“It’s meant to reassure risk-averse financial institutions and encourage investment. Still, many banks are likely to remain cautious, since sanctions on HTS as an organisation would remain in place even if Mr Al Shara and Mr Khattab are delisted.”

The second element, added Ms Ungar, involves a limited easing of the arms embargo to allow UN nuclear and chemical weapons agencies – as well as mine-action services – to operate more effectively in Syria. “This clarification is intended to make reconstruction and development a smoother process,” she said.