WASHINGTON, July 1 — President Donald Trump yesterday signed an executive order terminating a US sanctions program on Syria, allowing an end to the country's isolation from the international financial system and building on Washington's pledge to help it rebuild after a devastating civil war.
The move will allow the US to maintain sanctions on Syria's ousted former president Bashar al-Assad, his associates, human rights abusers, drug traffickers, people linked to chemical weapons activities, the Islamic State and ISIS affiliates and proxies for Iran, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters in a briefing.
Assad was toppled in December in a lightning offensive by Islamist-led rebels and Syria has since taken steps to re-establish international ties.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said Trump's termination of the Syria sanctions program would "open door of long-awaited reconstruction and development," according to a post by the foreign minister on social media platform X.
He said the move would "lift the obstacle" against economic recovery and open the country to the international community.
Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Trump met in Riyadh in May where, in a major policy shift, Trump unexpectedly announced he would lift US sanctions on Syria, prompting Washington to significantly ease its measures.
Some in Congress are pushing for the measures to be totally repealed, while Europe has announced the end of its economic sanctions regime.
"Syria needs to be given a chance, and that's what's happened," US Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack told reporters in a briefing call. He described yesterday's move as "the culmination of a very tedious, detailed, excruciating process of, how do you unwrap these sanctions".
The White House in a fact sheet said the order directs the Secretary of State to review the terrorism designations of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a rebel group that Sharaa led that has roots in al Qaeda, as well as Syria's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.
The White House said the administration would continue to monitor Syria's progress on key priorities including "taking concrete steps toward normalising ties with Israel, addressing foreign terrorists, deporting Palestinian terrorists and banning Palestinian terrorist groups."
— Reuters
