Washington – U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to lift longstanding U.S. sanctions on Syria, according to a report by Axios. The order takes effect today, Tuesday.
Senior U.S. officials said the decision comes as the current Syrian government, led by President Ahmed Sharaa, who replaced Assad after the latter was ousted during the country’s civil conflict, has taken “significant steps toward stabilizing the country,”
The executive order ends the national emergency status regarding Syria, which was first declared in 2004 under President George W. Bush and expanded several times over the past two decades in response to the Assad regime’s brutal crackdowns, support for terrorism, and use of chemical weapons.
According to officials, the new order also directs the State Department to review Syria’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism and to consider changes regarding the classification of the armed group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a prominent Islamist militant group operating in Syria. Formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda affiliate and led by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani (Syria’s current president Ahmad Al-Sharaa).
Read also: US Envoy to Syria: Syrian Democratic Forces Must Be Part of New Syrian State
However, the White House emphasized that sanctions will remain in place against former President Bashar al-Assad, his close associates, human rights violators, ISIS affiliates, Iran-backed militias, and individuals linked to Syria’s chemical weapons programs.
The executive order includes measures to ease export controls on certain goods and grants specific exemptions from foreign aid restrictions, aiming to support Syria’s gradual stabilization. It also instructs the State Department to explore options for coordinating sanctions relief with the United Nations.
This decision follows an earlier move in May, when the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a license easing some restrictions on business and transactions involving Syria. At the time, the Treasury Department said the measure opened new opportunities for private-sector investment in line with Trump’s “America First” approach.
Entities removed from the U.S. sanctions list under the new order reportedly include Syria’s current President Ahmed Sharaa, Interior Minister Anas Khattab, the Central Bank of Syria, Syrian Airlines, the state oil company, the national gas and petroleum transport companies, state media organizations, and multiple public banks.
The license also lifts restrictions on the Syrian Ministry of Tourism, the Four Seasons Hotel in Damascus, and several key ports and shipping authorities, including the ports of Tartus and Latakia.
