The United States takes another step in its thawing policy towards Syria. The gradual rapprochement of Donald Trump with Ahmed al Shara — a former jihadist for whom the United States had offered a reward of up to ten million dollars for his capture and now the interim president of the Arab country — has led Washington to announce this Monday that it no longer considers the Arab country a state sponsor of terrorism, a list on which it had been included for 47 years.
Only three countries remain in that group now: Iran, Cuba, and North Korea. The designation of a country as a State Sponsor of Terrorism entails restrictions on U.S. foreign aid, defense exports, and certain financial transactions.
The U.S. decision comes after last November the rapprochement between the two countries materialized following Al Shara’s visit, who in 2024 ended the decades-long dictatorship of the El Asad family, to Trump at the White House. It was the first time a Syrian head of state set foot in the official residence of the U.S. president. The image was striking due to the 180-degree turn regarding the treatment of the new strongman of the Arab country. Until recently, Al Shara was known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohamed al Julani, as a former leader of Al Qaeda and the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS).
Syria’s removal from the list comes after last Friday the U.S. Congress review period expired on the Trump Administration’s decision to remove the Arab country from the list. The decision includes the designation of the Al Nusra Front (former Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria) as a global terrorist organization.
Trump echoed a celebratory message published by Syria’s Foreign Minister, Hasan al Shaibani: “We have closed a dark page in Syria’s history with the end of this classification imposed by the policies of the late regime of 1979.”
The Syrian minister also expresses his gratitude to Trump for his leadership, to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whom he considers a friend, and to U.S. Ambassador Tom Barrack.
With Syria’s removal from the U.S. blacklist, the possibility opens for the country led by Al Shara to welcome U.S. companies to participate in the reconstruction of a country devastated after nearly 14 years of brutal civil war. “The removal of this designation, along with the lifting of sanctions, will support economic recovery, create the necessary conditions for reconstruction efforts, and promote trade and investment in a way that serves the interests of the Syrian people and contributes to regional security and stability,” the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently highlighted.
A Syrian court sentenced former dictator Bashar al Asad to death this very month; he inherited the country’s leadership from his father Hafez in 2000, who had been in power from 1971 until his death that year. The trial was in absentia because the dictator fled to Russia after the lightning offensive by rebels led by Al Shara to escape to one of the countries that had supported him the most.
This sentence, the first against the man who ruled with an iron fist, was celebrated in the areas that suffered the most from the horrors of the dictatorship and where Ahmed al Shara, the man who overthrew him and current president, has the most support.
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