President Donald Trump notified Congress on Wednesday of his intent to take away Syria from the U.S. listing of state sponsors of terrorism, opening a 45-day assessment interval earlier than a designation imposed below the elder Assad in 1979 would formally finish.
Syria has been one in all solely 4 nations on the blacklist, alongside Iran, Cuba and North Korea. Lifting the label would clear the final main authorized barrier maintaining international banks and traders from doing enterprise with Damascus, in response to State Division officers.
Trump raised the transfer himself whereas seated beside Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, on the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. Requested whether or not he would rescind the designation, Trump stated, “I feel I’ll. Why wouldn’t I?” He stated al-Sharaa had “finished a terrific job” main the nation.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated hours later that the administration had formally notified lawmakers of the choice. “Lifting sanctions on Syria will unlock worldwide commerce and funding,” Rubio stated, including that the step adopted counterterrorism assurances al-Sharaa’s authorities had put in writing.
The designation has already difficult enterprise for American firms working in Syria. Chevron and ConocoPhillips have signed agreements with Syria’s state oil firm on the belief the label would ultimately be lifted, and Nokia’s sale of telecommunications tools to Syria’s parliament was held up for months awaiting a U.S. export license, in response to individuals conversant in the matter.
Al-Sharaa’s personal report complicates the reset. He led Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist faction that started as an al-Qaeda affiliate earlier than splitting off and rising because the dominant insurgent group in northwest Syria, preventing Bashar al-Assad’s forces, ISIS and rival militias. The UN and different organizations have accused HTS of torturing and executing detainees and of abuses in opposition to ladies and youngsters. Al-Sharaa himself was faraway from the U.S. and UN terrorist lists solely final yr.
The reversal has unfolded in levels since al-Sharaa’s forces toppled Assad in 2024. Trump signed an govt order lifting most Syria sanctions in June 2025. The UN Safety Council adopted a U.S.-backed decision easing sanctions on al-Sharaa that November, the identical month he turned the primary Syrian president to go to Washington for the reason that nation’s 1946 independence. Congress repealed the Caesar Act, which had underpinned sanctions on Assad’s authorities, in December.
A bipartisan trio of lawmakers — Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina — pressed Rubio in a letter final week to complete the job, writing that the designation remained “probably the most important remaining authorized obstacle to Syria’s reconstruction.” Wilson has individually argued the label was scaring off firms keen to take a position, telling reporters, “we’re not searching for good governments.”
Al-Sharaa’s authorities has additionally moved to sever the ties that initially justified Syria’s place on the listing, chopping off Hezbollah’s networks contained in the nation and ending Russia’s army presence on the Latakia airbase and the Tartus naval base.
Talking alongside Trump on Wednesday, al-Sharaa credited “the historic resolution made by Trump to raise the sanctions on Syria” for serving to unify the nation after its civil struggle.
Congress now has 45 days to aim to dam the rescission earlier than it takes impact.
