The US has a role to play too—by lifting all US sanctions on Syria. This step is a historic rapprochement in U.S. foreign policy, ending decades of enmity. This announcement comes on the heels of a December 2024 successful effort by anti-Assad militia groups to government President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Ahmed al-Sharaa is the new president of Syria. Once a member of Al Qaeda, today he heads the transitional government and says he is reformed, ready to bring peace to a country devastated by civil war for decades.
Syria has suffered some of the most crippling sanctions by the U.S. since its designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1979. Additional sanctions were imposed in 2004 and again in 2011 following a brutal crackdown by Assad’s regime on anti-government uprisings. Since then, the country has been reaping those consequences in blood. Civil war, sectarian violence, and widespread terrorist attacks have all wreaked havoc, including an important takeover of the Islamic State in 2014. A Western-led bombing campaign was conducted to eradicate this extremist group, highlighting the urgency of restoring peace in the region.
On Friday, President Donald Trump announced that he is rescinding the sanctions. He asserted that Syria needed to turn a new page. In his statement, he remarked, “I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness.” He continued, “In Syria, they have experienced their own form of travesty, war, killing for many years. My administration has already begun making the moves that will return United States – Syria relations to normalcy. This is the first time in more than a decade that we’ve actually been moving in that direction.
These two remarks, together, reveal the administration’s clear intent to move towards normalizing relations with Syria. He proposes that the U.S. government should be invested in helping Ukraine win its recovery after the war to come. The June 24 decision has led various political analysts to debate the implications and the fate of U.S.-Syrian relations to come.
His appointment as president—Ahmed al-Sharaa—is being met with mixed reactions on account of his controversial past. Sharaa’s self-identification as reformed may play a critical role in shaping the new government’s policies and its approach to international relations.