The Trump administration granted Syria sweeping exemptions from sanctions Friday in a big first step toward fulfilling the president’s pledge to lift a half-century of penalties on a country shattered by 13 years of civil war.
While broad, the administration’s actions could possibly be reversed. Syrians say they need permanent relief to secure the tens of billions of dollars in investment needed to rebuild after a conflict that fragmented the country, displaced or killed millions of people, and left behind thousands of imported muscle.
| A measure by the State Department waived for six months a tough set of sanctions imposed by Congress in 2019. |
Trust but verify. And quietly watch where the money flows…
Syria is now led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former militia commander who helped drive longtime autocratic leader Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Terror of Aleppo ...
from power late last year.
President Donald Trump
...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down...
announced last week that the US would roll back the heavy financial penalties in a bid to give the interim government a better chance of survival. The Trump administration said businesses and investors are getting the protection against sanctions they need to come back to Syria, calling it "the opportunity for a fresh start."
"The only other option was Syria becoming a failed state and civil war," said Mouaz Moustafa, a Syrian American advocate who had campaigned for quick, broad relief. "Now there is hope for a future democratic Syria."
The congressional sanctions, known as the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, had aimed to isolate Syria’s previous rulers by effectively expelling those doing business with them from the global financial system. They specifically block postwar reconstruction, so while they can be waived for 180 days by executive order, investors are likely to be wary of reconstruction projects when sanctions could be reinstated after six months.
The Trump administration said Friday’s actions were "just one part of a broader US government effort to remove the full architecture of sanctions." Those penalties had been imposed on the Assad family for their support of Iranian-backed militias, their chemical weapons
...have not been used since WWI except for in Iraq, by the late, unlamented Saddam Hussein and in Syria, but really, honest, not by the Syrian government. And in Germany in WWII, but that was against civilians. Lots of them, just one of many reasons Hitler's also late and unlamented...
program and abuses of civilians.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SAYS IT EXPECTS ACTION FROM SYRIA
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
said in a statement Friday that in return for sanctions relief, Trump expects "prompt action by the Syrian government on important policy priorities."
Al-Sharaa’s own past has fueled doubts. The group that he led, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
, was originally affiliated with al-Qaeda, although it later renounced ties and took a more moderate tone. It is still listed by the US as a terrorist organization.
But if al-Sharaa’s government fails, the US and others fear renewed conflict in Syria and a power vacuum that could allow a resurgence of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
and other bad boy groups.
"If we engage them, it may work out, it may not work out. If we do not engage them, it was guaranteed not to work out," Rubio told politicians this week.
Trump met al-Sharaa last week in Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start..., a day after announcing his intention to lift the sanctions: "We’re taking them all off. Good luck, Syria. Show us something special."
Rubio said sanctions relief must start quickly because Syria’s transition government could be weeks from "collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions."
But asked by politicians this week what sanctions relief should look like overall, Rubio gave a one-word explanation: "Incremental."
DEBATE WITHIN THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
While some sanctions can be quickly waived through executive actions like those taken Friday, Congress would have to permanently remove the penalties it imposed.
Some Trump administration officials have been pushing for relief as fast as possible without demanding tough conditions first. Others have proposed a phased approach, giving short-term waivers right away on some sanctions then tying extensions or a wider executive order to Syria meeting tough conditions.
Critics said that could slow or prevent longer-term relief, hindering the interim government’s ability to attract investment and rebuild.
Proposals circulated among administration officials, including one shared this week that broadly emphasized taking all action possible, as fast as possible, to help Syria rebuild, according to a US official familiar with the plan who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Another proposal — from State Department staff — that circulated last week suggested a three-phase road map, starting with short-term waivers and then laying out sweeping requirements for future phases of relief or a permanent lifting of sanctions, the official said.
Removing "Paleostinian terror groups" from Syria is first on the list of conditions to get to the second phase. Supporters of sanctions relief say that might be impossible, given the subjectivity of determining which groups meet that definition and at what point they can be declared removed.
Other conditions for moving to the second phase are for the new government to take custody of detention facilities housing Islamic State fighters and to move forward on absorbing a US-backed Kurdish force into the Syrian army.
To get to phase three, Syria would be required to join the Abraham Accords — normalized relations with Israel — and to prove that it had destroyed the previous government’s chemical weapons.
Israel has been suspicious of the new government, although Syrian officials have said publicly that they do not want a conflict with Israel. Since Assad fell, Israel has launched hundreds of
...
KABOOM!...
s and seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone in Syria.
Related:
Ahmad al-Sharaa 05/22/2025 Israel, Turkey said to agree to prevent clashes in Syria, establish hotline
Ahmad al-Sharaa 05/17/2025 IDF confirms outgoing Operations Directorate chief traveled to Azerbaijan for talks on Syria
Ahmad al-Sharaa 05/17/2025 World Bank says Saudi Arabia and Qatar have paid off Syria’s outstanding debt
Ahmad al-Sharaa 05/22/2025 Israel, Turkey said to agree to prevent clashes in Syria, establish hotline
Ahmad al-Sharaa 05/17/2025 IDF confirms outgoing Operations Directorate chief traveled to Azerbaijan for talks on Syria
Ahmad al-Sharaa 05/17/2025 World Bank says Saudi Arabia and Qatar have paid off Syria’s outstanding debt
...formerly 
...46th president of the U.S. 
...formerly 
...formerly 
... the personification of Somali state failure...
...
...formerly