State Department deems Syria assistance in national interest and waives restriction

The Department of State has determined that assistance for Syria is in the national interest of the United States and has waived the application of section 7012 of the fiscal 2026 foreign operations appropriations act with respect to such assistance. The determination was signed on 20 July 2026 by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and published on 4 November 2026 in the Federal Register as Public Notice: 13162, under document number 2026–22471.

The notice appears in the Notices section of the Federal Register, Vol. 91, No. 212, page 69632, under the heading “Determination Under Section 7012 of the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2026 (Div. F, Pub. L. 119–75) With Respect to Syria”. The text reproduced in full is a single operative paragraph: the Deputy Secretary determines that assistance for Syria “is in the national interest of the United States” and thereby waives the application of section 7012 of the FY 2026 NSSAA with respect to that assistance.

The instrument is framed as a notice rather than a rule, and its DATES line records one date only: the Deputy Secretary signed the delegation of authority on 20 July 2026. The determination states expressly that it “shall be published in the Federal Register and, along with the accompanying Memorandum of Justification, shall be reported to Congress”, which makes publication and congressional notification part of the act itself. Between signature and publication in the Federal Register — 4 November 2026, filed 3 November — roughly three and a half months elapsed.

The chain of authority invoked

The determination rests on three cited instruments, listed in the text as the basis for the signature:

• Section 7012 of the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2026 (Div. F, Pub. L. 119–75), abbreviated in the notice as the FY 2026 NSSAA.
• E.O. 12163, as amended by E.O. 13346, the executive order framework governing foreign assistance functions and their delegation.
• Department of State Delegation of Authority 513.

The closing authority line of the notice adds two further citations — 22 U.S.C. 2651a and Pub. L. 119–75 — and identifies the official who cleared the text, Alice Kottmyer, Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser, L/M, with a contact number of 202–679–8083 and the address kottmyeram@state.gov.

Scope, timing and public record

The waiver is drawn in the broadest terms available to the signer: it applies to “such assistance to Syria” as a whole, without enumerating programmes, sectors, amounts or recipients, and without a stated expiration date. The notice carries no budget figure and no annex; the accompanying Memorandum of Justification is referred to but not reproduced in the Federal Register text.

The published record for the item consists of the following elements:

• Action type: Notice, Public Notice: 13162.
• Signature: 20 July 2026, by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, acting pursuant to delegated authority.
• Publication: Federal Register, Vol. 91, No. 212, Wednesday, 4 November 2026, p. 69632.
• Filing: FR Doc. 2026–22471, filed 3 November 2026 at 8:45 a.m.
• Billing code: 4710–05–P, the State Department series.

The effect is that the restriction found in section 7012 of the FY 2026 appropriations act no longer bars the assistance the Executive Branch intends to provide to Syria, provided the determination is published and the justification memorandum is transmitted to Congress as the text requires. The determination does not itself appropriate or allocate funds; it removes the statutory bar that section 7012 would otherwise impose on assistance to the Syrian side.

Why it matters

For readers tracking the American posture toward Damasco, this notice is the formal hinge: it converts what would have been a prohibited channel of cooperation into a permitted one, and it does so through a written, published and congressionally reported instrument rather than through informal practice. The gap between the July signature and the November publication also means the waiver has been in force, on paper, since mid-2026, while its public trace dates only from the current Federal Register issue — the document to watch for any subsequent reprogramming, obligation or expansion of assistance to Syria.

Source: Federal Register, Vol. 91, No. 212, 4 November 2026, Notices, p. 69632 (official reference: 2026–22471).