Media: Trump prepares full revocation of sanctions on Syria

US President Donald Trump is preparing an executive order to rescind a raft of sanctions on Syria, fulfilling his promise to lift all sanctions as the country begins to recover from over a decade of civil war.

Trump is expected to sign the action in the coming days, which one official described as “the full revocation of Syria’s sanctions architecture”, Caliber.Az reports via Al-Monitor. 

This follows his administration's initial wave of sanctions relief on May 23, which included a general license permitting Americans to conduct financial transactions with Syrian government entities like the central bank, the state-owned petroleum company, and Syria’s national airline. The State Department also announced a six-month waiver for the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, a bipartisan law previously aimed at isolating Bashar al-Assad's former regime and its supporters.

The United States designated Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979 and intensified sanctions beginning in 2011, following Assad's brutal crackdown on peaceful protests. Sanctions were further expanded in 2020 under the Caesar Act. Trump’s upcoming action is expected to revoke a series of executive orders on Syria, some dating back decades, including measures introduced after the civil war erupted that prohibited Americans from exporting services to the country. 

Last month in Riyadh, Trump discussed easing sanctions with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Al-Sharaa, a former jihadi who until recently had a $10 million US bounty on his head due to past links to al-Qaeda, met with Trump in the first meeting between leaders of both countries in 25 years. Rebels led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militant group swept into Damascus in December, toppling longtime dictator Assad and establishing an interim government that pledged to respect the rights of women and minorities. Despite this, HTS remains designated a foreign terrorist organisation by both the United States and the United Nations. 

Trump credited Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with encouraging him to lift sanctions on Syria, which had limited the region's ability to provide financial support to the country's fledgling government. The lifting of sanctions is poised to pave the way for the rebuilding of the war-torn country, where the vast majority of people live in poverty. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated that US engagement and sanctions relief are crucial to preventing the collapse of Syria’s government and a return to civil war.

By Naila Huseynova