United States sanctions on Syria were lifted in 2025, and in August 2026 the country’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism was removed — described by officials as eliminating the final major barrier to private-sector investment. The market is open. But “open” is not the same as “easy”: the firms that succeed will be the ones that enter deliberately. Here is the checklist we walk clients through.
The headline is clear, but the detail depends on your jurisdiction, your bank and your counterparties. Before committing, confirm your specific position with qualified legal counsel. Treat this as the first task, not the last.
Run background and sanctions-exposure checks on partners, key hires and major counterparties. In a reopening market this is your single most important risk control — one wrong association can undo an entire entry.
Payment and currency friction is the practical headache of a reopening market. Structuring and invoicing engagements offshore removes much of it — sort this before you sign, not after.
Your first hire — usually a country manager or project lead — sets the trajectory. Secure trusted senior leadership, including from the diaspora, before building out teams beneath them.
After years of conflict and displacement, land and property records can be contested. Verify title and site status independently before committing capital to a location.
Bake the engineering codes and HSE certification your project will require into planning and hiring from day one, rather than discovering the gap at mobilisation.
The market rewards speed — but only for those who have de-risked the fundamentals first.
Start with a defined pilot or first mandate, prove the operating model, then scale. A staged entry keeps your exposure controlled while the environment continues to normalise.
We place senior talent with compliance screening built in, and back it with full engineering delivery — one partner from strategy to commissioning.
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