US waives final Syria arms sanctions after leadership change

The Department of State has waived the final two sanctions restrictions still in force against Syria under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991, ending the last arms-sales and arms-financing measures tied to the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons. The decision, published as Public Notice 13125 in the Federal Register of September 16, 2026, takes effect the same day.

A two-step waiver

The move completes a process begun on June 30, 2025, when the President determined under section 307(d)(1)(B) of the Act (22 U.S.C. 5605(d)(1)(B)) that there had been a fundamental change in the leadership and policies of the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic. That determination waived all chemical-weapons-related sanctions on Syria except the restrictions on arms sales and arms sales financing.

On August 20, 2026, the Under Secretary for Arms Control and Nonproliferation determined that it was essential to the national security interests of the United States to waive those two remaining restrictions. The notice is signed by Christopher T. Yeaw, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Arms Control and Nonproliferation.

What is being lifted

The waiver terminates the following measures:

• Arms sales — termination of sales to Syria under the Arms Export Control Act of any defense articles, defense services, or design and construction services, and of licenses for the export to Syria of any item on the United States Munitions List.
• Arms sales financing — termination of all foreign military financing for Syria under the Arms Export Control Act.

Background and contacts

The sanctions had been imposed over the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons against its own people. With the leadership change in Damascus, Washington has now removed the full set of chemical-weapons-related measures, leaving Syria free of these particular restrictions.

For further information, the notice directs inquiries to Pamela K. Durham of the Office of Missile, Biological, and Chemical Nonproliferation, Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, at (202) 647-4930.

What it means

The waiver removes the last legal barriers the United States had maintained against arms transfers and military financing for Syria under the chemical-weapons statute, signaling a further normalization of ties with the new Syrian government. For defense contractors and financial institutions, the change opens the door to transactions that had been blocked since the sanctions were first imposed.

Source: Federal Register, Vol. 91, No. 178, September 16, 2026, Notices section, p. 58740 (official reference: FR Doc. 2026-18918).