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Viewing cable 05DAMASCUS6684, SANCTIONS: LICENSING DELAYS FOR AVIATION SAFETY

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
05DAMASCUS6684 2005-12-28 14:08 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Damascus
VZCZCXRO8003
OO RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHMOS
DE RUEHDM #6684 3621408
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 281408Z DEC 05
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6364
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 0673
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0050
UNCLAS DAMASCUS 006684 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA/ELA 
NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/SINGH 
TREASURY FOR GLASER/LEBENSON 
EB/ESC/TFS FOR SALOOM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAIR ECON ETTC SY SANC
SUBJECT: SANCTIONS: LICENSING DELAYS FOR AVIATION SAFETY 
PARTS GETS RENEWED ATTENTION 
 
REF: DAMASCUS 4822 
 
1.  (U) On December 26, Syrian Arab Airlines began executing 
its plan to ferry, in tandem with Saudi Airlines, some 25,000 
Syrian Hajj participants to Jidda and Medina.  At the same 
time, a reporter for as-Sharq al-Awsat approached us on a 
story she is researching on the adverse effect US trade 
sanctions are having on the safety of the Syrian airline. 
Articles with similar story lines appeared in both local and 
international press last month.  In an interview published 
both locally and in regional media, the director general of 
Syrian Arab Airlines, Nashaat Numir, commented that licenses 
for spare parts, which previously were processed in weeks, 
now take months or are even sometimes returned without 
action.  In his interview, Numir asserted that he was working 
with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to 
get the organization to intercede with the appropriate USG 
authorities to help resolve the issue. 
 
2.  (SBU) Numir expanded on the same theme in a meeting with 
us.  He complained that licensing for aviation spare parts 
had slowed down significantly recently.  He told us that he 
was most concerned with two licenses for parts that are new 
ICAO safety requirements: a GPS system and an Enhanced Ground 
Proximity Warning System.  Numir commented that because ICAO 
mandated the parts in 2004 and Syrian Arab Airlines has still 
not been able to acquire them, he wrote a letter to ICAO 
recently to explain his company,s difficulty in complying 
with international safety standards and to solicit the 
organization,s assistance in resolving the issue.  According 
to Numir, managers at the Syrian Arab Airlines try to 
compensate for the slow processing of spare parts licenses by 
trying to anticipate all parts needed well in advance, but as 
in the two examples above, that is not always possible. 
 
3.  (SBU) Comment.  The SARG seeks opportunities to portray 
US sanctions as intended to target the average Syrian. 
Issues like aviation safety parts and medical spare parts 
(reftel) strengthen the SARG,s otherwise weak hand.  A 
waiver does exist for parts needed for aviation safety under 
both the Syrian Accountability Act (SAA) and the Export 
Administration Act.  Expeditiously processing these requests 
would increase the effectiveness of sanctions by reducing 
their unintended negative consequences, and strengthen our 
own argument that sanctions target the Syrian regime and its 
policies that destabilize the region, and are not intended to 
hurt or endanger the average citizen. 
SECHE