Following the significant transformation that has overshadowed all of Syria, affecting even its smallest details, after the fall of the ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the attention of Syrians who left their country due to the war has turned towards the Syrian technology market. They hope to return and apply what they learned abroad, but their aspirations are confronted with the reality that the technology sector remains shackled by sanctions.

Despite the progress made by the new Syrian government regarding the Western sanctions accumulated since the 1980s, this progress has not included the technology sector to this day. In contrast, the banking sector has been touched, which poses a barrier for programming pioneers, as it is linked to online payment transactions.

Anas Zahra is one of the young people looking forward to a breakthrough on the technical front in Syria, aiming to bring his expertise and the results of his academic achievements in Germany back to his homeland through a project he plans to launch in Hama, his home province. However, his aspirations face numerous obstacles.

Zahra, a Syrian youth who studied computer engineering at the Applied Sciences University of Technology and Economics in Saarland, Germany, aims to introduce online shopping services to Syria and develop applications that facilitate people’s lives, similar to what is available in Europe, hoping for material benefits as well. Yet his aspirations are hindered by significant obstacles, primarily the poor infrastructure for internet and electricity, along with the absence of organizational status in some cities lacking house addresses, or the unavailability of online payment methods.

Zahra told Enab Baladi that programming any commercial application requires access to services like Google Maps, which are blocked in Syria due to US sanctions on the country. Programmers are attempting to replace these with mapping applications of Russian origin, but according to Zahra, these applications lack reliability.

Zahra still prefers to take a spectator’s stance on the unfolding events, waiting for improvements in the conditions of internet, electricity, and communications in Syria, and the lifting of sanctions on the technology sector, until he can approach a step closer to realizing his professional aspirations.

On his part, Ammar, who works at a software company in Dubai, UAE, believes that the restrictions on the tech sector keep many Syrian professionals outside of Syria, away from the local market. He pointed out that working from Syria requires steps that some may find complicated to accomplish even simple tasks.

Ammar stated to Enab Baladi that accessing some essential sites for programming pioneers requires circumventing the website using a proxy server, which naturally slows down the already poor internet speed, hindering users from completing even the simplest steps.

He noted that having fast internet services in Syria requires subscribing to satellite internet, which is costly, and the government has issued a decree prohibiting possession without permission.

The Syrian Telecommunications and Postal Regulatory Authority has previously announced that possessing Starlink devices or distributing satellite internet without a license exposes individuals to legal accountability, considering it a violation of existing rules and regulations.

The head of the authority, Atef al-Dairi, stated that using satellite internet stations without a license constitutes a clear violation of the applicable regulations, calling on companies and users to comply with the regulatory directives.

Sanctions restrain the technology sector

The US Department of State’s website notes that Syria was first designated as a “state sponsor of terrorism” in January 1979, accompanied by sanctions, with additional sanctions and restrictions added in May 2004 through the issuance of Executive Order 13338, in implementation of the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003.

Although the sanctions date back many years, the most significant and burdensome came after the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011, with the first step being the issuance of Executive Order 13572 in April of the same year, which froze the assets of Syrian officials and others responsible for human rights violations, including those related to repression, alongside sanctions targeting various sectors, including technology.

The federal register (volume 89, number 110), in its latest version as of June 6, 2024, included the final version of sanctions regarding Syria.

The United States has banned the provision of any financial or technological support to the ousted regime in Syria, and this remains in effect to this day, under a series of sanctions imposed over the past years, as noted by the US Federal Register in its final version.