Trump declares the end of sanctions on Syria.

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, took advantage of one of his usual executive order signing ceremonies this Monday to end, by decree, the sanctions that Washington had imposed on Syria, as he had promised to do in May during a visit to the Middle East.

The announcement was made a couple of hours earlier by the White House spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, who told reporters that the measure aims to “promote and support the country’s path towards stability and peace,” after 13 years of civil war. She also clarified that sanctions against former President Bashar al-Assad, who ruled Syria for decades, and his associates remain in place.

The United States had already granted Syria extensive exemptions from sanctions that Washington had maintained for half a century in May. During his visit to the Middle East, also in May, Trump met with the interim leader, Ahmed al-Shara, in Saudi Arabia and promised him the lifting of financial punishment.

Maintaining Peace

“[In Syria] there is a new government that, hopefully, will stabilize the country and maintain peace. I will order the cessation of sanctions against Syria to give them a chance for greatness,” Trump said in Riyadh. On that day, the Saudi Crown Prince and strongman of the country, Mohammed bin Salman, was present and celebrated the announcement. A few days later, the President of the United States greeted Al-Shara, whom he had called “a young and attractive guy.”

The decision of the United States adds to that of the European Union, which also lifted all its sanctions on Damascus in May.

Al-Shara had been wanted by the United States until last December, when al-Assad fell: Washington offered a $10 million reward for his capture. Al-Assad is currently exiled in Moscow. Both he, who clung to power for 24 years, and his father, Hafez al-Assad, ruled Syria for half a century with an iron fist.

“The United States is committed to supporting a stable, unified, and peaceful Syria internally and with its neighbors,” states the text of the decree published by the White House. “A united Syria that does not offer refuge to terrorist organizations and guarantees the safety of its religious and ethnic minorities will contribute to regional security and prosperity.”

Washington lifts these sanctions unconditionally, trusting that by breaking Syria’s isolation in global financial markets, it will encourage al-Shara and his allies to fulfill commitments related to combating terrorism, integrating Syrian Kurdish forces, respecting minorities, and reestablishing relations with Israel.

The United States had been sanctioning Syria since 1979 when it designated the country as a state sponsor of terrorism. In 2004, it expanded these measures due to Damascus’s military presence in Lebanon and its support for militias hostile to the United States in the region. In 2011, Washington imposed extensive economic penalties on prominent Syrian officials, as well as on oil exports and the financial sector in response to the brutal crackdown by President Bashar al-Assad against protesters during the Arab Spring, which led to a civil war that has lasted for 13 years.

Al-Shara has a background as a leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an organization that was affiliated with Al Qaeda until 2016 under the name Jabhat al-Nusra. The now Syrian president was captured in 2006 by the U.S. military in Iraq and spent five years imprisoned in several detention and torture centers, including Camp Bucca and the infamous Abu Ghraib prison, known for the abuse of inmates during the Iraq invasion.