WASHINGTON — The United States on Monday removed Syria from its list of “State Sponsors of Terrorism”, a decision Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa hailed as “historic” and said would help the country’s recovery after 14 years of civil war.The removal took effect after a 45-day congressional review period, triggered when US President Donald Trump formally notified Congress on July 8 of his intention to rescind the decades-old designation, fulfilling his commitment to provide sanctions relief to the post-Assad government.Syria is no longer subject to prohibitions under the Terrorism List Governments Sanctions Regulations, according to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.Washington revoked the designation of the al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization.The Treasury’s office also removed Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list.Consequently, General License 25, which had authorized transactions otherwise prohibited because of the group’s involvement in the government, was revoked because it is “no longer necessary,” according to the office.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that the action was “taken in recognition of the positive actions taken and further commitments” by al-Sharaa to “fully distance Syria from acts of international terrorism”.Al-Sharaa welcomed the decision in a statement on X.He thanked Trump and said Syria was tearing a “page from its painful past, in order to launch itself into the realm of development, reconstruction, and building”.Rubio noted that under the new government, Damascus has taken “significant steps” to counter terror group ISIS (Daesh), al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and “Iran-aligned groups,” and formally joining the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS last November.He emphasized that removing the terrorism label “eliminates the final major barriers” for private sector investment, facilitating Syria’s “economic recovery and reintegration into the global economy.”Trump formally notified Congress of the intent to lift the label on July 8 following a meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Ankara.Syria had held the designation since 1979, a status shared only with Cuba, North Korea, and Iran. The terrorism label imposed significant barriers on security assistance, financial transactions, and foreign investment.Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham was one of the most prominent armed groups opposing Bashar Assad’s forces during Syria’s civil war. The group was led by Sharaa, who became Syria’s president after Assad’s ouster.The policy shift followed the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 and subsequent efforts by Sharaa to stabilize the country.Sharaa made a historic visit to the White House last November, marking the first by a Syrian leader since the country’s independence in 1946. This followed an earlier meeting with Trump in Riyadh in May 2025, which occurred shortly before Washington lifted the Caesar sanctions.
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