Trump Will Order ‘Cessation of Sanctions Against Syria’
I don’t think Trump’s administration will lift Syria’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, which has been in place since 1979.
President Donald Trump announced he would end sanctions against Syria after speaking with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Trump said in Saudi Arabia:
In Syria, which has seen so much misery and death, there is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace. That’s what we want to see in Syria. They’ve had their share of travesty, war, killing for many years.
That’s why my administration has already taken the first steps toward restoring normal relations between the United States and Syria for the first time in more than a decade.
And I’m very pleased to announce that Secretary Marco Rubio will be meeting with the new Syrian foreign minister in Turkey later this week, and very importantly, after discussing the situation in Syria with the crown prince, your crown prince, and also with President Erdogan of Turkey, who called me the other day and asked for a very similar thing among others and friends of mine, people that have a lot of respect for in the Middle East, I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness.
🚨 @POTUS: "After discussing the situation in Syria with the Crown Prince and also with President Erdogan of Turkey… among others in the Middle East, I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria, in order to give them a chance at greatness." pic.twitter.com/JG3gx3Nn6D
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 13, 2025
The U.S. has had sanctions on Syria for over a decade during its civil war to punish then-President Bashar Assad’s regime as he brutalized anti-government protesters.
I don’t think Trump’s administration will lift Syria’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, which has been in place since 1979.
Anti-Assad rebels, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), began toppling the regime in November when they entered Aleppo.
HTS, which the U.S has listed as a terrorist organization, has controlled regions of Syria since 2020.
Turkey is a major supporter of HTS.
The rebels entered Damascus, the capital, in early December. Footage showed people destroying Assad statues.
The 50-year Assad family rule of Syria ended.
Assad fled to Russia, where Vladimir Putin granted him asylum.
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Comments
Eh???? Unforced error. They are still at war with Israel. Still harbor Russians, Hezbollah, and Iranians I believe. Why the hurry? How about waiting until they show they are not like the last regime?
Does anyone have respect for the Middle East? I am not a fan of diplomacy.
They have made it very clear they want to negotiate a peace settlement. The Syrian government is violently anti-Assad, anti-Iran, and anti-Hezbollah so the enemy of their enemies is potentially a friend. Israel has not made this easy. I understand why they wanted to destroy Syria’s military capability, but doing so after Assad’s fall instead of during the rebel offensive has obviously pissed off a lot of people in Syria.
Right now HTS is saying all the right things. They have not done anything all that wrong either – there is no evidence they are supporting terrorism and they have withdrawn all support for Hezbollah.
We can remove sanctions and the State Supporter of Terrorism designation and see if we can be friends. We can always put them back later if they turn out to be wolves in sheeps’ clothing.
Right now there is a lot of interest in investment in Syria. There have been several investment conferences and as a VC based in Middle East I can tell you that there is a lot of interest in startups there. Syrians tend to be smart, hard working, and risk takers. Exiled Syrians work all over the GCC often in very responsible positions. If the US removes sanctions there will be a lot of investment into Syria and a lot of Syrians with a vested interest in keeping relations good. We can also freeze out Russia and make sure they do not get to keep their bases in Syria.
Why the hurry, you ask. Maybe, because the US State Department knows stuff about Syria, Turkey, and Russia that you don’t. Lifting the sanctions on Syria is but only one step forward towards negotiating an end to endless wars, and stabilizing the region.
What is the regime in the land of former Syria anyway? There are Druze, some is taken by Israel, are the Russians keeping a foothold in the port of Latakia, what about Kurds …
It seems to me that after Assad ran away, the whole land was unclaimed property. Which part do we now call “Syria”?
An argument can be made that since HTS chased Assad away, HTS gets to govern the whole land of Syria. Is that how international law works? And by that measure, Israel certainly gets to govern the whole land of Gaza.
If Israel can identify those in Palestine who are not hostile, then maybe they can allow those to stay. Otherwise they should get rid of of all of them, one way or another. Maybe send them to South Africa?
Interesting. I have. no idea if it will work but our policies since 1979 clearly haven’t worked.
Hopefully the people Trump talked to included the Israeli government and leaders of the Christian and Druze communities in Syria.
I believe he talked to none of them, although he may have talked to Netanyahu about his plans. The others, he has no time for.
Our policies since 1979 are a big part of the reason why Assad was so weak that the rebels were able to overthrow him.
Looks like a carrot to leverage against Turkey’s influence. If Syria misbehaves we can always slap them back on. Dropping a wait-and-see flag on it for now.
And blow some shit up to remind them who the daddy is!
Basically agree. I have some doubts but Trump usually has a purpose in what he does. In the Middle East you rarely have the luxury of a good option vs a bad option, it’s usually a bad option vs a worse one.
Agreed. Climbing to simplistic black/white solution sets doesn’t account for the large amount of grey and ignores the 2nd/3rd.order effects. Your comment is correct buy I’d expand it to include choosing a bad option today that will/might become a worse option tomorrow v a horrible option today that will/might become a better option later on. IMO it is better to be as non interventionist as possible outside our hemisphere to stay out of regional conflicts, avoid the centuries old feuds within these regions and always put the best interest of the middle-class US Citizen first, if a particular policy doesn’t make life better for Joe the Plumber in middle America then we probably should rethink it before executing it.
Clinging to simplistic Black and white framing
My only problem is when the principle is grey.
I think we should have very solid black and white principles, which don’t always get implemented in black and white because the world is an ugly place.
I’m not saying you’re advocating that, but it’s the primary problem when you start talking bad/worse policies. I think it’s how you articulate the grey: “This is really what we want – and we’re not giving up on that as a principle – but we know that isn’t going to happen soon, so we will aim for this in the meantime.”
djt is wisely giving them the room to throw themselves off the roof
he knows they will 99% fail at not having their dna of kill crush destroy be employed
its a region that only thrives when western values are at the forefront
good move djt
The country of Turkey was Obamas favorite in the region
and thats about all we need to know
If the foaming-at-the-mouth Erdogan had anything to do with this, it would hurt Israel. The Muslim extremist hates the air that Israel breathes and would nuke them if he could get away with it. I think this may be one bad “Peace” initiative by Trump. It’s like Hitler and Mussolini telling Truman that Japan just wants to build a normal world.