US declares partial suspension of sanctions on Syria after historic meeting

The US has announced a partial suspension of sanctions on Syria after a historic meeting in Washington DC between its new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and Donald Trump.

Monday’s meeting was the first summit between a US and Syrian leader at the White House since 1946. The meeting is part of a remarkable turnaround in US-Syrian relations after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, who had prosecuted a deadly civil war in the country from 2011 until his forces collapsed in December 2024.

Sharaa, a former al-Qaida-aligned rebel fighter who had previously had a $10m bounty on his head, arrived at the White House on Monday in a dark suit and red tie as he sought to lobby Trump for sanction relief for the former pariah state. Video showed him greeting a crowd of supporters outside in a rare public appearance.

“He’s a very strong leader,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “He comes from a very tough place. Tough guy. I like him. I get along with the president, the new president in Syria, and we’ll do everything we can to make Syria successful, because that’s part of the Middle East.”

After the meeting, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, announced a 180-day suspension of some sanctions under the Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019, commonly called the Caesar Act, which targets Syria’s energy industry and deterred foreign investors from signing contracts relating to the country’s postwar reconstruction.

The exemptions excluded “certain transactions involving the governments of Russia and Iran, or the transfer of provisions of Russian-origin or Iranian-origin goods, technology, software, funds, financing or services”.

Announcing the sanctions and export control reliefs, the US government said in a press release: “President Trump is delivering on his commitment to give Syria ‘a chance at greatness’ and to let them rebuild and thrive by lifting US sanctions and ensuring accountability for harmful actors.”

Sharaa is a former rebel and leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which was affiliated with al-Qaida and had been designated as a terrorist organisation by the US. But after his forces toppled Assad, HTS was removed from the list of foreign terrorist organisations, and the bounty on Sharaa was rescinded.

The US had said it wanted Syria to join a US-led coalition against Islamic State, while Syria had said that it planned to reopen its embassy in Washington after it was closed more than a decade ago under Assad.

That announcement was not made on Monday, although Sharaa said the sides had come to a “political” agreement.

Asked whether further announcements about Syria’s joining the coalition against Islamic State or on a security pact with Israel, Trump said: “Yes, you can expect an announcement on Syria. We want to see Syria become a country that’s very successful.”

Syria’s foreign ministry said it had agreed with the US to integrate the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces into the Syrian army.