Syria: Lobbying and Influence in the United States

For decades, U.S. sanctions made ordinary paid representation of Syria’s Assad government nearly impossible. That legal barrier explains the country’s sparse FARA record better than secrecy does. The fall of the regime in December 2024 and partial sanctions relief in June 2025 created the possibility of a different record.

Regime change altered the legal setting

For nearly 50 years, Syria sat on the U.S. State Sponsors of Terrorism list. That shut down most normal business ties. The Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019 added another layer. It targeted anyone doing major business with the Assad government. U.S. law firms and lobby shops stayed away. The legal risk was too high.

After Bashar al-Assad fell in December 2024, a transitional government took power in Damascus under Ahmad al-Sharaa of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, according to the State Department’s U.S. Relations With Syria page. On June 30, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14312, revoking several earlier sanctions orders and allowing Treasury to ease specific rules. The change opened a possible legal path for Syrian representation in Washington.

Why the Assad-era file is nearly empty

Under Assad, searches of efile.fara.gov for “Syria” or “Syrian Arab Republic” yield little direct work. A contract with a sanctioned government could violate federal law, so registration alone would not make the relationship lawful.

The one widely reported brush came in 2017. Reporting tied former Senator Trent Lott’s firm to an effort touching Syria-connected interests. The deal ran through Libyan intermediary Bashir Saleh. It drew press attention. It did not produce a long disclosure trail like Gulf clients do.

For broader context, the Paul Manafort case sits in the same era of unregistered foreign work. His case focused on Ukraine, not Syria. But it shaped how prosecutors read FARA across every Middle East file, including this one. The DOJ Special Counsel archive holds the materials.

The sanctions behind that absence

Three layers of U.S. sanctions kept Syria out of the normal lobbying market:

The 1979 State Sponsors of Terrorism designation. It blocked most arms sales and foreign aid.
The Syria Accountability Act of 2003. It added trade limits.
The Caesar Act of 2019. It reached beyond U.S. persons to foreign firms doing business with the regime.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ran the day-to-day program. Its Syria sanctions page handled licensing. A U.S. firm that wanted to file under FARA for the Assad government needed a specific OFAC license first. Very few ever did.

What changed in 2025

Executive Order 14312 was signed on June 30, 2025. It revoked Executive Orders 13338, 13399, 13460, 13572, 13573, and 13582. Those orders formed the backbone of the Syria sanctions program. OFAC followed with updated guidance on what became permitted and what stayed blocked.

Caesar Act sanctions, passed by Congress, were not fully repealed by the order. Parts still apply. But the change is real. U.S. law firms can now, in specific cases, take on work for the Syrian transitional government. The near-automatic legal bar is gone.

New filings, if they appear, should identify the Syrian transitional government, a ministry, or a related organization as the foreign principal. The FARA portal is the primary place to verify them.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham began as an al-Qaeda affiliate before breaking away and rebranding. That history remains relevant to any American firm considering a contract. Official U.S. terrorism designations and Treasury guidance, which can change, determine what work is lawful.

No historical total to compare

For the Assad years, Syria’s FARA spending was effectively zero. There is no comparison to Qatar, the UAE, or Saudi Arabia. The country was cut out of the market by law.

Any 2025 or 2026 numbers will be new. The best place to check is efile.fara.gov, searching “Syria” as a foreign principal. The Congressional Research Service report RL33487 is the standing reference for U.S.-Syria policy and sanctions.

What to watch next

Sanctions, rather than an unusually secretive lobbying strategy, explain Syria’s nearly empty FARA file under Assad. Regime change and Executive Order 14312 created the first substantial opening for paid Syrian representation in decades. Any conclusion about the new government’s Washington activity remains provisional until contracts and supplemental filings appear on efile.fara.gov.