Ash-Sharq: Syria "tore a page from its grim past" by removing itself from the "terrorist" lists

Syrian President Ahmad al-Shara welcomed the United States’ announcement removing his country from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, saying, “Syria has shaken off a dark stain from its shoulders and torn a page from its painful past, to embark on a path of development, reconstruction, and building.”

Al-Shara added in a video address to Syrians, as reported by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA): “The great Syrian people, you have done it again. The sanctions have been lifted and the restrictions removed. May God help us serve you.”

The Syrian president expressed his deep gratitude to his American counterpart, Donald Trump, and to all friendly and supportive countries that stood by Syria.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had issued an official update to its sanctions regulations, announcing the removal of Syria from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, following the completion of legal procedures related to Congressional review without any objections being registered.

The U.S. Department of State also revoked the designation of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) as a global terrorist organization. HTS emerged from Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian affiliate of al-Qaeda, before declaring its separation from the group in 2016.

The Treasury Department, for its part, announced in a statement the removal of HTS from a list of sanctions targeting certain individuals and entities.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that this move, coming about two years after the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, “will help encourage further investment in Syria, thereby strengthening its political and economic stability.”

Bessent emphasized in the statement that “the Treasury Department is committed to President (Donald) Trump’s promise to provide the Syrian people with an opportunity to achieve great things.”

However, the department stressed that lifting restrictions on Syria “does not change the Treasury’s position on combating global terrorism or its commitment to holding bad actors in Syria accountable.”