The US has offered a breath of fresh air to Syria’s new transitional authorities. On Monday, January 6, Washington granted a six-month exemption from sanctions on transactions with Syrian government institutions to increase the flow of humanitarian aid. This is a welcome gesture for the new master of Damascus, Ahmed Al-Charaa, leader of Hayat Tahrir Al-Cham (HTC), who is seeking not only to stabilize the country, devastated by more than a decade of civil war and cut off from the global financial system, but also to consolidate his power.
“The main clause aims to facilitate the sale of oil or electricity to Syria, which is a real emergency: how to make up for the 50,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil a day that Iran used to supply to the Syrian regime and which it has stopped supplying? This could create a real risk of instability. It is the lifting of a rather serious impediment,” said Jihad Yazigi, director of the economic newsletter Syria Report.
As a result, Turkey and Qatar have announced that they are sending two electricity-generating ships to Syria to supply a total of 800 megawatts. The interim government has said it expects to provide up to eight hours of electricity a day within two months. While the oil fields in the east of the country have come under the control of Kurdish forces, the state currently provides only two or three hours of power a day. Jordan is also working to restore Syria’s electricity supply infrastructure.
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