UK LIFTS SANCTIONS AGAINST TOP-LEVEL SYRIAN INSTITUTIONS

SYRIA AIR, CENTRAL BANK SEE DECADE-LONG RESTRICTIONS LIFTED

Thursday morning the UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of HM Treasury, lifted sanctions against twenty-four top-level Syrian entities, including Syrian Arab Airlines, (Syria Air), the Syrian Central Bank, and the Syrian General Petroleum Corporation. Many of these sanctions had been in place for more than a decade, with some of the restrictions dating back to 2011.

The lifiting of these sanctions follows a partial relaxation of sanctions against Syria by the State Department on 6 January and action on 24 February by the European Union to ease sanctions against many top-level entities in Syria and to make funds available to the Syrian Central Bank. The UK sanctions actions appear to go farther than the U.S. and EU sanctions actions, as the Syrian Central Bank and multiple other banks saw UK all restrictions lifted.

All of this follows the remarkable toppling of former Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad by a coalition of rebel forces in early December 2024.