The US is set to ease restrictions on providing humanitarian aid and other basic services such as electricity to Syria, while still maintaining its strict sanctions regime on the new government.
The decision by the outgoing Biden administration is viewed as a signal of goodwill to Syria's transitional government and aims at paving the way for improving tough conditions in the war-ravaged country for civilians, while also treading cautiously with the new administration and keeping US leverage in place.
US officials have met several times with members of the ruling administration, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), since the fall of the Assad regime at the end of last year following a lightning rebel offensive by the rebels.
HTS, the faction that led the advance, is officially recognised as a terrorist organisation by Washington due to its previous affiliation with Al-Qaeda, which it has long renounced and even fought against in Idlib.
Washington wants to see HTS cooperate on priorities such as counterterrorism and forming a government inclusive of all Syrians, at which point the lifting of sanctions would be probable, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The Biden administration approved the easing of restrictions over the weekend, the newspaper added, allowing the Treasury Department to issue waivers to aid groups and companies providing essential services and supplies such as water, electricity, and aid.
It is not known if the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who is set to be sworn in on 20 January, will continue this policy with the Syrian transitional government.
Meanwhile, in a further move of regional acceptance of the post-Assad leadership in Syria, the country's new foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani landed in the UAE on Monday on his first visit to the country.
"Shaibani, accompanied by defence minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and intelligence chief Anas Khattab arrive in the United Arab Emirates," SANA said, a day after the delegation visited its Gulf neighbour, Qatar.
Inside Syria, a military body linked to Syria's new authorities continued an arrest campaign, detaining hundreds of officials linked to the former regime of Bashar al-Assad, according to a UK-based monitor.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Sunday that the Military Operations Division, which is part of the HTS group, had detained around 500 people in eastern Homs Province over the previous two days in a security sweep of the area.
The observatory said that those arrested included people who had signed so-called settlement deals, in which former government forces - including military, police and intelligence officers, as well as members of pro-Assad militia groups - handed over their weapons in exchange for a civilian identity card.
Despite reports of some violations against prisoners by security forces, the SOHR also said that former regime soldiers and supporters had been released through reconciliation deals.