Washington – President Trump signed an executive order on Monday afternoon ending U.S. sanctions plans in Syria.
The executive order was made after Mr. Trump Announced in May During a trip to the Middle East, the United States will lift all sanctions on the country. While in the Middle East, Mr. Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who announced a transitional government in March. Assad regime Collapsed Within the offensive range of opposition forces. Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will continue to impose sanctions.
“The order will eliminate sanctions on Syria, while imposing sanctions on former President, Assad, his colleagues, traffickers in abuse of human rights, people associated with chemical weapons activities, ISIS and its affiliates, and agents in Iran,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Syria’s transitional government has been pushing for the Trump administration to carry out sanctions relief, and for months, some work has been done to ease some sanctions before the president announced in May.
Congress still needs to formally lift some sanctions. Syria has been subjected to U.S. sanctions in some form since 1979, since the country was designated as a sponsor of terrorist state.
Last month, the Ministry of Finance issued formal guidance to impose some sanctions on banks, airlines and al-shaara. It also issued guidelines for Syria to approve transactions, including infrastructure projects. Finance Minister Scott Bessent said at the time that the measures were intended to encourage investment in Syria.
“As President Trump promised, the Treasury and the State Department are implementing mandates to encourage new investments in Syria,” Best said. “Syria must also continue to work to be a peaceful and stable country, and today’s action will put the country on the road to a bright, prosperous and stable future.”
The new transitional government blames sanctions (including penalties for third countries to conduct business in Syria) because the country cannot pay civil servants’ salaries, rebuilds a large number of war-crazy cities and rebuilds a health care system with war-breaking health care.
Türkiye and Saudi Arabia, two U.S. allies in the region, have supported normal relations with the new Syrian government. Both countries have provided assistance to Syria, and Saudi Arabia has offered to pay off some of the country’s debts, both activities that could violate sanctions. The Saudis saw a chance to win the new Syrian government as the country has been allied with their highest regional rival, Iran, for decades, while the Assad regime is in power.
Reliefs are a key theme in the meeting between Syrian officials, including its central bank governor Abdelkadir Husrieh and other world leaders at the IMF and World Bank spring meetings held last month in Washington.
Over the past two decades, some of the most punitive measures have been taken to implement the Assad regime to commit human rights violations and support for groups designated as terrorist organizations in the United States. The Assad government collapsed in December, including rebellious groups, including fighter jets led by Sharaa, swept Damascus and ended a 13-year civil war.
In 2003, then-President George W. Bush signed the Syrian Responsibility Act as a law, which focused on Syria’s support for U.S. designated terrorist organizations such as Syria’s military presence in Lebanon, and the alleged development of weapons of mass destruction, developed weapons of mass destruction, and in 2003 in our IRAQ, in the IRAQ, the oil of armed groups sneaked and supported.
Kathryn Watson contributed to the report.
