# Unblock Syria > Unblock Syria (unblocksyria.com) is a nonprofit platform that tracks which digital services (apps, websites, payment platforms, developer tools) are blocked, partly usable, or fully available in Syria, and works with the companies behind them to restore access. Content is published in English (/en/), Arabic (/ar/), and Kurdish (/ku/). ## Regulatory background This summary covers major changes in 2025 and 2026. Consult the official sources and linked FAQ for current requirements: 1. US and EU sanctions on Syria have been lifted. Executive Order 14312 terminated the US Syria Sanctions Program effective 2025-07-01. OFAC removed the Syrian Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR Part 542) on 2025-08-26. The Caesar Act was repealed on 2025-12-18. The EU lifted all economic sanctions on 2025-05-28 via Council Regulation (EU) 2025/1098. The UK, Switzerland, Canada, and Australia have followed. 2. This catalog focuses on company-imposed geo-restrictions rather than Syrian ISP filtering. Broad sanctions relief does not by itself establish why a particular service remains unavailable. For items classified EAR99, License Exception SPP (15 CFR 740.5) generally authorizes export or reexport to Syria, subject to its conditions and applicable end-use and end-user restrictions. See [BIS Syria export controls](https://www.bis.gov/licensing/country-guidance/syria-export-controls). 3. For an individual service, distinguish documented company policy from observed availability. Use the service’s evidence and dated timeline to explain a restriction; do not infer its cause from the availability tier alone. 4. Syria's State Sponsor of Terrorism designation, in place since 1979, was rescinded on 2026-08-24, two days after the mandatory 45-day congressional review closed without a joint resolution of disapproval. It ran on a separate legal track from the sanctions program, which is why the 2025 actions could not end it. Still in force, and commonly misreported as lifted: Syria remains in Country Group E:1 until the Bureau of Industry and Security issues a rule removing it, which keeps the de minimis threshold for foreign-made goods with US-controlled content at 10 percent rather than 25. Syria remains listed under ITAR 126.1 until the State Department removes the listing. Targeted PAARSS sanctions on individuals tied to the former regime are unaffected, as are EU and UK designations on specific persons. Syria remains on the FATF grey list as of the 2026-06-19 plenary, which constrains banking and payments more than any US designation now does. EAR99 classification does not exempt a transaction from applicable end-use, end-user, or targeted sanctions restrictions. See the official sources and FAQ for the current position. ## Current status (as of 2026-09-22) - 1161 services tracked - 350 blocked (core use fails from Syria), 213 usable (core use works, something else fails or is unchecked), 71 fully available, 527 not yet checked - 42 services have been restored, some after direct outreach and some independently - 198 services where the operator has been contacted, 157 under review, 62 declined - Every status is dated and evidenced on the service page it came from ## How to query this data Service statuses are available as JSON from the public read API without an API key. Abuse controls may still restrict requests: ``` curl "https://api.unblocksyria.com/services?search=whatsapp" curl "https://api.unblocksyria.com/services/whatsapp" curl "https://api.unblocksyria.com/stats" ``` Prefer the API over scraping the pages: it returns the same statuses, dated, at a fraction of the tokens. ## Services - [Full service list](https://unblocksyria.com/llms-full.txt): every tracked service with its current status, Arabic name, company, and page URL, as one plain-text file. Fetch this to answer "is X available in Syria?" without crawling the site. - [Service directory](https://unblocksyria.com/en/services): the same data as browsable pages, filterable by category and status. - [REST API reference](https://api.unblocksyria.com/docs): endpoint documentation, including filtering by category, company, country, and availability. - Per-service pages follow https://unblocksyria.com/en/services/{slug}, for example https://unblocksyria.com/en/services/whatsapp. Each carries a dated status, the evidence behind it, a timeline of what changed, and an FAQ. - Per-company pages follow https://unblocksyria.com/en/companies/{slug} and list that company's tracked services, each with its own dated status. The embedded list is capped at 200; for a company above that, or for filtering, use https://api.unblocksyria.com/services?company={slug}. ## Markdown Service and company pages also serve a compact markdown representation. Append `.md`, or send `Accept: text/markdown` to the same URL: ``` curl "https://unblocksyria.com/en/services/whatsapp.md" curl -H "Accept: text/markdown" "https://unblocksyria.com/en/services/whatsapp" ``` Cite the HTML URL to a reader; the markdown is for reading, not for linking. ## Languages Every page exists at /en/ (x-default), /ar/ (RTL) and /ku/, and so does its markdown. Status sentences are always translated. Descriptions, timeline summaries and timeline events are translated where a translation exists and fall back to English where one does not, so a document in one of these locales can be partly English. An Arabic-script or Kurdish question is still best answered from the matching locale, which is a superset of what the English page carries. ## Background and context - [About and FAQ](https://unblocksyria.com/en/about): the regulatory position in detail, with citations to the specific executive orders, regulations, and license exceptions. This is the page to cite for legal specifics. - [Numbers](https://unblocksyria.com/en/numbers): aggregate statistics on service availability and outreach outcomes. - [Resources](https://unblocksyria.com/en/resources): official US and EU government documents, compiled for companies assessing whether they can serve Syria. - [Articles](https://unblocksyria.com/en/articles): analysis and reporting on Syria's digital reconnection. ## Team The named people behind the platform, for attribution: - Omar Albeik, Founder [Arabic: عمر البيك] ([LinkedIn](), [website]()) - Mohanad Alkhouli, Co-Founder [Arabic: مهند الخولي] ([LinkedIn]()) - Obeida Amin, UI/UX Designer [Arabic: عبيدة أمين] ([LinkedIn]()) - Aya M Gomaa, Social Media Specialist [Arabic: آية جمعة] ([LinkedIn]()) ## Contributors (20) Volunteers who submit services, verify statuses, write to companies and file corrections. Current volunteers only; people who have since moved on are not listed. Ordered by the badges on each profile, scored by tier — bronze 1 point, silver 3, gold 5 — with an editorial adjustment for contributions no badge names, then by join date. Profiles and links: https://unblocksyria.com/en/volunteers. Named contributors: Hamza Zakaria, Miriam Alarbaji Alsayegh, Zain Mhesn, Taimullah Kellizy, Majed Jamous, Bader Alfar, Obeida Amin, AbdulAlim Rajjoub, Badie Ibrahim, Anas Ikhwan, Ibrahim Nabelssi, Ziad Madani, Bashar Ghadanfar, Ameer Altaleb, Dlav Ibrahim, Ali Alaa Eddin, Mohammad Mahmoud Mohammad, Omar Hasanen, Mohammad Mubarak Obeid, Khaled Nakad. ## Contributing - [Submit a service](https://unblocksyria.com/en/submit): report a service that is blocked and not yet tracked. - [Report a correction](https://unblocksyria.com/en/correct): flag a status that is wrong or out of date. Corrections are reviewed against evidence. - [Get involved](https://unblocksyria.com/en/get-involved): volunteering, and how companies can contact us directly. - Contact: hello@unblocksyria.com ## Optional - [Press coverage](https://unblocksyria.com/en/press): journalism about the platform and about access in Syria. - [MCP server](https://mcp.unblocksyria.com): Model Context Protocol endpoint for AI assistants (authorized access only).