Media reports said on June 30 that United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to dismantle a web of sanctions against Syria, a move that will likely unlock investments in the country more than six months after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad.
The US Department of Treasury said in a statement that Trump’s decree offers sanctions relief to “entities critical to Syria’s development, the operation of its government, and the rebuilding of the country’s social fabric,”
Al Jazeera reports that the Syrian government has been under heavy US financial penalties that predate the outbreak of the civil war in the country in 2011.
In a statement posted on X, Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani welcomed Trump’s decision, saying it “will open the door of long-awaited reconstruction and development”.
“It will lift the obstacle against economic recovery and open the country to the international community.”
The sprawling sanction program, which included provisions related to the former government’s human rights abuses, has derailed reconstruction efforts in the country. It also contributed to driving the Syrian economy under al-Assad to the verge of collapse.
Trump promised sanctions relief for Syria during his visit to the Middle East in May.
“The United States is committed to supporting a Syria that is stable, unified, and at peace with itself and its neighbors,” the US president said in a statement on June 30.
According to the BBC, the White House said it would monitor the new Syrian government's actions including “taking concrete steps toward normalizing ties with Israel” as well as “addressing foreign terrorists” and “banning Palestinian terrorist groups.”
