Donald Trump to lift US sanctions on Syria. What it means after the fall of Assad regime?

US President Donald Trump has said that he would remove all sanctions imposed on Syria. President Trump, who is visiting Saudi Arabia, said the sanctions had served an important function and that it was time for Syria to move forward.

"I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness," Trump told an investment forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the first of a three-day visit to the Middle East, including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

"It's their time to shine. We're taking them all off," Trump said, "Good luck Syria, show us something very special."

Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa is expected to meet Trump on 14 May in Riyadh, in a further signal to the world that the international isolation of Syria should end.

Lifting Sanctions Major US Policy Shift

The Syrian sanctions were put during the reign of President Bashar al-Assad to, perhaps, inflict pain on his regime but ended up with devastating economic fallout for Syrian civilians. Assad governed the country from 1971 to 2024.

The US has yet to formally recognise al-Sharaa’s government, and sanctions imposed during Assad’s rule remain in place. The Trump administration had been weighing its approach since former President Joe Biden left the decision open, amid growing international momentum for re-engagement with Damascus.

Trump's latest move marks a major shift in US policy. The US declared Syria a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979, which led to an arms embargo and financial restrictions, including on foreign assistance.

The US imposed more sanctions on Syria in 2004, including further arms export restrictions and limitations on Syria’s economic interactions with the US. More sanctions were imposed after the civil war broke out in 2011. This included a freeze on Syrian government assets held abroad, a ban on US investments in Syria and restrictions on petroleum imports.

“The Syrian sanctions date to the long, brutal reign of President Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted in December, and were intended to inflict major pain on his regime but led to devastating economic fallout for Syrian civilians” the Washington Post said.

Why were sanctions placed on Syria?

Most of the sanctions on Syria were imposed during the early years of Syria’s war, when the US was supporting the country’s opposition and attempting to isolate the Assad regime, pointing to its human rights abuses, including the use of chemical weapons, Al-Jazeera said.

The “terrorist” designation placed on Hayat Tahrir al-Sham was a result of its former association with al-Qaeda. This was one of the reasons there was international wariness to remove sanctions on Syria even after the fall of Assad regime, Al-Jazeera reported.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria's new leader

The US had also announced a $10 million reward for the capture of Syria’s current leader, al-Sharaa, and listed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the organisation he ran before its dissolution with the fall of al-Assad, as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization”.

The United States, however, removed a $10 million bounty on Sharaa's head in December 2024.

The move, experts said, would be a huge boost for a country that has been shattered by more than a decade of civil war, a report by UK news agency Reuters said. Rebels led by current President Ahmed al-Sharaa toppled President Bashar al-Assad last December.

Why remove sanctions now?

Sharaa has slowly been gaining international legitimacy for his government since it came to power in December 2024 after toppling Assad. The Syrian president, a former ‘terrorist’, has been able to travel internationally and meet world leaders.

The new Syrian government led by Sharaa has been projecting itself as a moderate force that could be acceptable to the international community, including by distancing itself from designated 'terrorist' groups.

Sharaa's dispensation has also promised to cooperate with other countries on ‘counterterrorism’ measures and supporting minority rights. This assumes significance amid sectarian fighting involving pro-government forces and minority groups after the fall of al-Assad in Syria.

Syria has been trying to convince the US that it is not a threat but a potential partner and that it was engaged in indirect talks with Israel to de-escalate tensions with the US’s Middle Eastern ally – despite Israel’s bombing of Syria and occupation of its territory, news agency Reuters said last week.

‘New start’ in Syria's path to reconstruction

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said on X that the planned move marked a "new start" in Syria's path to reconstruction. "We ... stand ready to foster a relationship with the United States that is rooted in mutual respect, trust and shared interests," Shibani said.

Trump, while making the announcement, said he made the decision after discussions with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, whose governments have both strongly urged the lifting of sanctions.

Israel’s Suspicion

This move came despite deep Israeli suspicion of Sharaa's administration, worries initially shared by some US. officials. Israeli officials have continued to describe Sharaa as a ‘jihadist’, though he severed ties with al-Qaeda in 2016.

Trump said steps were being taken to restore normal relations with Syria, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would meet his Syrian counterpart this week.

Alex Zerden, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Reuters that Trump's announcement would unwind a ‘Gordian knot’ of sanctions, export controls and terrorist designations that had made Syria one of the most economically restricted countries, along with Iran, North Korea and Cuba.

UN Welcomes

The United Nations, which has been pushing countries to lift sanctions on Syria, also welcomed the move. "It was important for us to see relief on sanctions on Syria to help the reconstruction of Syria, to help the Syrian people recover from more than a decade of conflict, a decade of under investment," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Sharaa, the new Syrian leader was for years the leader of al-Qaeda's official wing in the Syrian conflict. He first joined al-Qaeda in Iraq, where he spent five years in a US prison.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, previously led the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that toppled Bashar al-Assad

Formerly known as Nusra Front, the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham was al- Qaeda's official wing in Syria until breaking ties in 2016. HTS was officially dissolved in January. The group has been on the UN Security Council al- Qaeda and Islamic State sanctions list for more than a decade, subjected to a global assets freeze and arms embargo.

What happens next?

The lifting of sanctions on Syria might be a signal to the world to do business in Syria. Lifting sanctions that cut Syria off from the global financial system will pave the way for greater engagement by humanitarian organisations working in Syria, easing foreign investment and trade as the country rebuilds, Reuters said.

The sanctions had been economically debilitating for Syria, and presented a huge impediment for the new government, which is under pressure to improve living standards in a country where unemployment and poverty levels are high, and electricity blackouts are common, Al Jazeera said.

Whether the US itself invests in Syria remains to be seen, but increased Arab and Turkish investment is likely.

“It takes away a key obstacle in (Syria's) ability to establish some kind of economic development, economic prosperity,” Omar Rahman, a fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs told Al Jazeera. 

“But there are plenty of other obstacles and challenges the country is facing.” he said.