Trump orders formal assessment of Syria's new president
(MENAFN) U.S. President Donald Trump has moved to scale back large portions of the long-standing sanctions regime against Syria and has ordered a formal reassessment of the terrorist designation applied to Ahmed al-Sharaa, the Islamist leader who now heads the coalition that ousted former President Bashar Assad.
On Monday, Trump signed an executive order that relaxed broad financial restrictions previously imposed on Syria. While certain targeted sanctions remain in place against Assad and members of his former administration—removed from power last year by fighters led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)—the wider economic restrictions have been eased.
Sanctions against organizations officially labeled as terrorist groups will remain active. However, Trump has directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to reconsider HTS’s classification as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization,” along with the designation of al-Sharaa as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist.” Additionally, the U.S. is reviewing Syria’s designation as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism,” a label that dates back to 1979.
This shift in policy follows a meeting between Trump and al-Sharaa in May, held in Riyadh, where the two reportedly discussed Syria’s post-conflict recovery and the possibility of restoring relations with Israel. During the meeting, Trump expressed optimism about the new government’s future, saying he would give Damascus “a chance at greatness.”
To manage the evolving diplomatic relationship, Trump appointed Thomas Barrack—his ambassador to Turkey and a trusted adviser—as the new U.S. special envoy for Syria.
Barrack, speaking to reporters on Monday, acknowledged the sensitive nature of legitimizing a figure with past links to extremist groups. “There’s controversy here, of somebody who had been al-Nusrah and had been considered a bad guy who all of a sudden becomes the leader,” he said, referencing al-Sharaa’s previous affiliations.
He also likened Syria’s transformation to America’s own revolutionary history. “If you remember, we had a revolutionary war that lasted 14 months. And we had brutality… And from 1776, when we declared independence, it was 12 years until we got a president. And who was the president? The president was a general… It was George Washington,” Barrack said during a State Department briefing.
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