Trump says US to lift Syria sanctions, ending years of Washington’s policy

United States President Donald Trump has announced that helium volition assistance each sanctions connected Syria, declaring that it was clip for the state to “move forward”, giving a federation devastated by years of ruinous civilian warfare a important opening successful reviving its shattered economy.

Speaking astatine an concern forum successful Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh during his Middle East circuit connected Tuesday, Trump said the punitive measures had achieved their “purpose” and were nary longer needed.

“I volition beryllium ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria successful bid to springiness them a accidental astatine greatness,” helium said. “It’s their clip to shine. We’re taking them each off”.

The president ended his remarks with a nonstop connection to Damascus: “Good luck, Syria. Show america thing precise special.”

The announcement marks a melodramatic displacement successful Washington’s yearslong argumentation towards Syria, wherever sanctions targeted ousted President Bashar al-Assad’s authorities during years of war, and the state astatine ample implicit its crackdown connected dissent and quality rights abuses during that astir 14-year period.

Syrians suffered hundreds of thousands of deaths, and millions were displaced during the war.

“There’s a caller authorities that volition hopefully win successful stabilising the state and keeping peace,” Trump said successful Riyadh, referring to the interim authorities led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Trump noted that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio volition conscionable Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani successful Turkiye aboriginal this week, and says his determination to extremity the sanctions was influenced by conversations with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Al-Shaibani welcomed the announcement, calling it a “a pivotal turning constituent for the Syrian radical arsenic we determination toward a aboriginal of stability, self-sufficiency, and existent reconstruction aft years of devastating war”, according to the state-run SANA quality agency.

Key obstacle removed, but others remain

The sanctions alleviation volition beryllium welcomed by al-Sharaa’s government, which besides says it wants to modulation distant from the corrupt strategy that gave al-Assad loyalists privileged entree to authorities contracts and kept cardinal industries successful the hands of the al-Assad household and its Alawite base.

Omar Rahman, a chap astatine the Middle East Council connected Global Affairs, says that portion it is important not to overestimate the value of Trump’s committedness to assistance sanctions connected Syria, it is an important measurement successful the aboriginal of a federation devastated by years of war.

“It takes distant a cardinal obstacle successful their quality to found immoderate benignant of economical development, economical prosperity,” helium told Al Jazeera. “But determination are plentifulness of different obstacles and challenges the state is facing.”

Rahman said that Saudi Arabia helped propulsion the US towards its determination to driblet sanctions.

“I deliberation the United States was truly dragging its feet connected sanctions – they wanted to usage it arsenic leverage successful bid to propulsion different policies successful Syria,” helium said, adding that too Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were besides pushing for this pivotal outcome.

“This wasn’t thing that was excessively hard for Trump to do,” Rahman added. “He didn’t request to get support from anybody. He didn’t adjacent request consent from Congress.”

Syria’s caller authorities has sought to rebuild the country’s diplomatic ties, including with planetary fiscal institutions. It besides counts connected affluent Gulf Arab states to play a captious relation successful financing the reconstruction of Syria’s war-ravaged infrastructure and reviving its economy.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar announced successful April that they volition settee Syria’s debt to the World Bank totalling astir $15m.

The United Kingdom has besides removed its sanctions connected 12 Syrian authorities entities, including the Ministries of Defence and Interior and the General Intelligence Directorate.

But subject attacks persist.

Israel has carried retired multiple aerial strikes successful Syria since al-Assad’s removal. The country’s presidency denounced an Israeli onslaught adjacent the statesmanlike palace successful Damascus arsenic a “dangerous escalation” earlier this month.

Tensions betwixt Israel and Syria soared aft the Israeli authorities accused the Syrian authorities of failing to support the country’s Druze minority.

The Syrian authorities and Druze came to an statement aft days of violence, the second saying they did not request Israel’s involution oregon protection.

Israel has antecedently called Syria’s interim authorities a “terror radical from Idlib that took Damascus by force”.

Decades needed to recover

A February study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimated that astatine existent maturation rates, Syria would request much than 50 years to instrumentality to the economical level it had earlier the war, and it called for monolithic concern to accelerate the process.

The UNDP survey said 9 retired of 10 Syrians present unrecorded successful poverty, one-quarter are jobless and Syria’s gross home merchandise (GDP) “has shrunk to little than fractional of its value” successful 2011, the twelvemonth the warfare began.

Syria’s Human Development Index score, which factors successful beingness expectancy, acquisition and modular of living, has fallen to its worst level since it was archetypal included successful the scale successful 1990, meaning the warfare erased decades of development.

The UNDP study estimated that Syria’s “lost GDP” during the 2011-2024 warfare to beryllium astir $800bn.

Source

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Al Jazeera and quality agencies