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U.S. looks to help Syrian civilians, eases sanctions

13 June 2013 08:24 (UTC +04:00)

The steps are being coordinated through the Departments of State, Commerce, and Treasury, APA reports quoting CNN. Secretary of State John Kerry signed a limited waiver of the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003 that authorizes the export , subject to case-by-case review, of certain U.S. items. They include commodities, software, and technology related to water supply and sanitation; agricultural production and food processing; power generation; oil and gas production; construction and engineering; transportation; and educational infrastructure. Companies can apply to the Department of Commerce for licenses to provide those materials. "But clearly the choice of weapons that (Syrian President Bashar al-Assad) is engaged in across the board challenge anybody's values and standards of human behavior and we're going have to make judgments for ourselves about how we can help the opposition to be able to deal with that," Kerry said.