US removes Syria from terrorism sponsor list, lifting major investment obstacle

The United States has removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. This decision, effective after a 45-day congressional review period, was announced on the US Treasury's website. According to the US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, the move aims to foster additional investment in Syria to promote political and economic stability.

The delisting comes after US President Donald Trump notified Congress in July of his intent to rescind Syria's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. The US also revoked its designation of al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as a global terrorist organisation. According to the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, these actions recognise the positive actions taken and further commitments by the Syrian government under President Ahmad Al Shara to fully distance Syria from acts of international terrorism.

Syria was initially placed on the US blacklist in 1979, alongside Iran, Cuba, and North Korea. The country's central bank governor hailed the removal as a "historic step". The US Treasury stressed that the removal of restrictions on Syria does not change its posture with regards to countering global terrorism and its commitment to hold bad actors in Syria accountable.

Brief written by urgent.news from Al-Monitor, South China Morning Post, Gulf News, The National UAE, The National Business — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.