Building on Washington’s promise to assist Syria in rebuilding after a terrible civil war, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday ending a U.S. sanctions program on the country, allowing it to be removed from the global banking system.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters in a briefing that the action will enable the U.S. to continue sanctions against Syria’s ousted former president Bashar al-Assad, his associates, human rights violators, drug traffickers, individuals connected to chemical weapons activities, the Islamic State and ISIS affiliates, and proxies for Iran.
After Hayat Tahrir Al sham overthrew Assad in December in a lightning-fast advance, Syria has moved to restore diplomatic relations with other countries.
Trump’s lifting of the sanctions on Syria will “open door of long-awaited reconstruction and development,” Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani wrote in a post on social media platform X.
He claimed the action would “lift the obstacle” to economic recovery and make the nation more accessible to the rest of the world.
In a significant strategic change, Trump abruptly said he would withdraw U.S. sanctions on Syria during a May meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh, which led Washington to drastically loosen its sanctions.
During a press call, U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack told reporters, “Syria needs to be given a chance, and that’s what’s happened.” He called the action taken on Monday “the culmination of a very tedious, detailed, excruciating process of, how do you unwrap these sanctions.”
According to a fact sheet released by the White House, the directive instructs the Secretary of State to examine Syria’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism and the terrorism designations of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a rebel organization commanded by Sharaa and with ties to al Qaeda.
In order to promote international investment and trade while it rebuilds, Syrians expect that the lifting of sanctions will allow humanitarian organizations operating in the country to become more involved.
Following Trump’s statement in May, the U.S. Treasury Department provided a broad license that permitted transactions between the central bank, state-owned businesses, and the interim Syrian government.
Nonetheless, the United States has placed a number of sanctions on Syria, some of which are permitted by laws such as the Caesar Act. In order for Syria to draw in long-term investment without parties worrying about breaking US sanctions, the measures must be repealed.
A senior administration official stated, “We are now, pursuant to the executive order, going to look at suspension criteria for the Caesar Act.”
Source: Reuters, Al Jazeera and other media outlets
