Off topic, but I just a technical assistance request from someone in Syria. Any suggestions on how to handle it? I assume that normal business relations are not an option.
Iran, Syria, North Korea, and Cuba.
You will put yourself and your company in a lot of troubles if you deal at all even in the simplest business request (including technical stuff) with the above countries.
What kind of request? I imagine that there is a no exporting Tech info rule for Syria, since it is on the terrorism list.