Qatar is planning to help finance a massive boost in public sector wages promised by Syria's new government, a U.S. official and a senior diplomat said, vital assistance to the new Islamist rulers in Damascus a month after they toppled Bashar al-Assad.

Syria will receive two electricity-generating ships from Turkey and Qatar to boost energy supplies hit by damage to infrastructure during President Bashar al-Assad's rule, state news agency SANA quoted an official as saying on Tuesday.

Could the return of Qatar Airways to Damascus tempt other international airlines to put the Syrian capital back on the route map?

Syria is to receive two floating power plants from Turkey and Qatar that will supply 800 megawatts – equivalent to half of what is currently generated in the country – an official said on Tuesday. This came a day after US eased sanctions on Syria,

Syria's electricity chief said Tuesday that two power ships were being sent from Turkey and Qatar to increase supply after the United States eased sanctions following Bashar al-Assad's fall.

The national airline of Qatar has announced that it will resume weekly flights to Syria 13 years after cancelling operations. Qatar Airways will offer three weekly flights between Qatar and Damascus, Syria, from Tuesday (7 January). In 2011, flights by the carrier to and from Damascus and Aleppo were cancelled amid Syria’s civil war.

Two electricity-generating ships from Türkiye and Qatar are heading to Syria to boost energy supplies hit by damage to infrastructure during Bashar

The two Mideast powerhouses have been trying to block the rise of Islamist groups in the region for two decades. The rebel takeover in Damascus will test that approach.

Syria's new Islamist rulers said on Sunday that U.S. sanctions on Syria were an obstacle to the war-torn country's rapid recovery and urged Washington to lift them during a visit by Syrian officials to Qatar.

Europe may move faster. On January 3rd the French and German foreign ministers met Ahmad al-Sharaa, Syria’s de facto ruler, in Damascus. Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, said it was premature to lift sanctions. In private, though, German diplomats are circulating a proposal which would do just that.