The White House said the administration would continue to monitor Syria's progress on key priorities including "taking concrete steps toward normalizing ties with Israel, addressing foreign terrorists, deporting Palestinian terrorists and banning Palestinian terrorist groups."
The move will allow the US to maintain sanctions on Syria's
ousted former president Bashar al-Assad, his associates, human rights abusers,
drug traffickers, people linked to chemical weapons activities, the Islamic
State and ISIS affiliates and proxies for Iran, White House spokeswoman
Karoline Leavitt told reporters in a briefing.
Assad was toppled in December 2024 in a lightning offensive
by Islamist-led rebels and Syria has since taken steps to re-establish
international ties.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said Trump's
termination of the Syria sanctions program would "open door of
long-awaited reconstruction and development."
He said the move would "lift the obstacle" against
economic recovery and open the country to the international community.
Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Trump met in Riyadh in
May where, in a major policy shift, Trump unexpectedly announced he would lift
US sanctions on Syria, prompting Washington to significantly ease its
measures.
Some in Congress are pushing for the measures to be totally
repealed, while Europe has announced the end of its economic sanctions regime.
"Syria needs to be given a chance, and that's what's
happened," US Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack told reporters in a
briefing call. He described Monday's move as "the culmination of a very
tedious, detailed, excruciating process of, how do you unwrap these
sanctions."
The White House in a fact sheet said the order directs the
Secretary of State to review the terrorism designations of Hayat Tahrir
al-Sham, a rebel group that Sharaa led that has roots in al Qaeda, as well as
Syria's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Syria becoming a colony of United States.
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