The Trump administration lifts sanctions on the Syrian president and interior minister in 'recognition of the progress demonstrated'
The new regime is “promoting regional security and stability as well as an inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process,” a State Department spokesman said.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (also known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani) (Photo by AFP)
Ahead of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House on Monday, the Trump administration said on Friday that it is removing sanctions on the Syrian leader and a top minister, following a vote of the United Nations Security Council.
“This new Syrian government, led by President al-Sharaa, is working hard to locate missing Americans, fulfill its commitments on countering terrorism and narcotics, eliminating any remnants of chemical weapons and promoting regional security and stability,” stated Tommy Pigott, principal U.S. State Department deputy spokesman.
Pigott added that the country’s government is committed to “an inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process.”
The Security Council voted on Thursday by a 14-0 margin to delist al-Sharaa and Syrian interior minister Anas Hasan Khattab, following months of pressure from Washington.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced in May that he would unwind sanctions on Syria, which were imposed during the reign of Bashar Assad. (Al-Sharaa deposed Assad in December.)
Washington had listed al-Sharaa and Khattab as specially designated global terrorists.
“These actions are being taken in recognition of the progress demonstrated by the Syrian leadership after the departure of Bashar Assad and more than 50 years of repression under the Assad regime,” Pigott said.
China abstained from Thursday’s Security Council vote over concerns about Uyghur fighters in Syria, whom Beijing considers terrorists, and who weren’t included in the sanctions resolution. China and Russia have long shielded Assad at the global body.
“I think he’s doing a very good job,” Trump told reporters of al-Sharaa, after the Security Council decision. “It’s a tough neighborhood, and he’s a tough guy, but I got along with him very well, and a lot of progress has been made with Syria.”
Trump said he has led the charge to remove Syrian sanctions “in order to give them a fighting shot.”
Al-Sharaa previously led the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which served as Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria until cutting ties in 2016. The United Nations sanctioned the group in 2014 and placed it on its Al-Qaeda and Islamic State sanctions list.
Other members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham remain under U.N. sanctions, facing a travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo. Reuters reported in July that U.N. sanctions monitors found no “active ties” this year between Al-Qaeda and HTS.
Al-Sharaa is the first Syrian president to visit Washington since the country’s independence in 1946.
His office said that asking for the Caesar Act, which imposed wide-ranging sanctions on the Assad regime over human rights abuses, to be repealed is his top priority for his meeting with Trump on Monday. Trump waived the sanctions by executive order, but a full, permanent repeal would require congressional action.
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