The Syrian regime’s government has extended the decision to halt the imposition on Syrian citizens to exchange $100 at the border crossings upon entering Syria for an additional ten days.

The decision issued by the government includes continuing the suspension of the Council of Ministers’ decision No. “46 M” of 2020 and its amendments, which required Syrian citizens and those treated as such to exchange $100 (or its equivalent in foreign currencies accepted exclusively by the Central Bank of Syria into Syrian pound) when entering Syrian territories from the border crossings and ports with Lebanon.

The Presidency of the Council of Ministers mentioned today, Saturday, October 5, that the extension period is ten days.

The extension came due to the circumstances of the Israeli military escalation on Lebanese territory and the resulting influx of people at the border crossings.

On September 29, a similar decision was issued for a one-week duration.

In 2020, when the government enacted the decision, it justified it as serving citizens, increasing the revenues of the Central Bank of Syria, supporting the Syrian pound, and aiming to limit the activity of the black market outside the borders.

In April 2021, the Council of Ministers issued a decision exempting displaced citizens abroad returning to their country, those commissioned with official missions, and citizens under the age of 18 from exchanging $100 when entering Syria.

The decision also exempted truck drivers, flight crews, and truck and car drivers operating on transport lines with neighboring countries at that time.

The Lebanese-Syrian border is witnessing crossings of Syrians and Lebanese towards Syrian territories following the Israeli military escalation in Lebanon.

The death toll from the ongoing Israeli escalation on Lebanon from October 8, 2023, to the current October 1 reached 1,575 people, while the number of displaced persons reached 1.2 million.

On October 3, the Immigration and Passports Department in the Syrian regime’s government mentioned that about 200,000 Syrians, alongside 72,000 Lebanese, were displaced to their country due to the Israeli war on Lebanon until October 2.

On October 4, Israel bombed the Masnaa border crossing on the Syrian-Lebanese border, with no reports of injuries, leading to the closure of a road used by hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Israeli bombardment towards Syria.