US removes Syria from arms export ban as Trump administration draws closer to new Syrian government

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration is removing Syria from a list of countries that are not allowed to purchase or import US weaponry, a step that is part of a months-long process of easing sanctions on the new government in Damascus and its leaders. In a notice published Wednesday in the Federal Register, the State Department said it was amending its International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR, so that Syria no longer was among the nations subject to a policy of denial for licenses an