Syria just got the green light to buy American weapons again
1 hour ago · 3 October 2026Share
A Romanian Army PATRIOT missile system fires during a live-fire exercise at Capu Midia range in Romania in November 2023. File photo. Courtesy Photo · Public domain
The US just lifted a weapons ban on Syria that's been in place for 40 years.
So what does that actually mean? Syria can now ask to buy American weapons. And Washington will consider each request one by one, instead of saying no automatically, like it has since the 1980s.
Here's how it happened. The State Department changed its own rules — the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Syria got taken off the list of countries that get an automatic no. That change was published three days ago. And it takes effect today.
The decision itself was actually made six weeks ago. The Secretary of State signed off on 19 August. It just took until now to publish it. That gap is normal for how these rules work.
So who's still on the banned list? Seven countries. Belarus, China, Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea and Venezuela. Syria just walked off that list.
Now here's why this is such a big deal.
This ban has been around since the US turned against the al-Assad family, decades ago. That family's rule ended almost two years ago, when Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by rebels.
The man who took over, Ahmed al-Sharaa, used to be aligned with the al-Nusra Front. That's an al-Qaeda affiliate. And for the past 22 months, he's been trying to do the opposite — build a relationship with Washington.
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Syrian partner soldiers practice movement techniques during squad-level tactics training with U.S. Army soldiers assigned to 10th Mountain Division in Syria in April 2025. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Fred Brown · Public domain
And it's been working, step by step.
About a year ago, Donald Trump eased decades of US economic sanctions on Syria. Then in August, Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, took Syria off the list of state sponsors of terrorism. That label had blocked almost every kind of dealing with Damascus. The State Department has also said it wants to reopen the US embassy there. It's been shut for 14 years.
And 11 days ago, something that would have been unthinkable a few years back actually happened. Donald Trump and Ahmed al-Sharaa shook hands. At the United Nations. At a meeting with the Gulf Cooperation Council. Two countries with no real relationship for most of the last decade, and their leaders are shaking hands in New York.
Now the timing here matters too.
The US finished pulling its troops out of its last base in Iraq on the very same day this arms rule was published. Some people watching the region think the two moves are connected — the US stepping back, and letting Syria's government take on more of the job of keeping the Islamic State group from coming back.
So what don't we know?
Nobody has said which weapons Syria might actually buy first. Nobody knows if Congress will try to block a sale once one is proposed. Syria's government hasn't said anything publicly about this change yet, though it has welcomed sanctions relief before. And neither Israel nor the Gulf states have said a word about the idea of American weapons flowing into Damascus.
For 40 years, Syria simply wasn't allowed to buy an American weapon. As of today, it's a request Washington says it will actually consider.
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