{"id":263270,"date":"2026-08-24T22:57:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T22:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/263270\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T22:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T22:57:12","slug":"us-formally-removes-syrias-designation-as-state-sponsor-of-terrorism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/263270\/","title":{"rendered":"US formally removes Syria\u2019s designation as State Sponsor of Terrorism"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration on Monday formally removed<\/a> Syria from its state sponsor of terrorism (SST) list, an extraordinary milestone for the government of Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former terrorist turned statesman<\/a> who led the campaign to overthrow the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The removal of the SST designation provides enormous sanctions relief for Syria and the ability for Damascus to fully rejoin the international financial system. The country faces huge challenges in reconstruction following more than a decade of civil war. The U.S. is also delisting al-Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), from the specially designated global terrorist (SDGT) list.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the removal of the SST label recognized “positive actions and further commitments” by the Syrian government under al-Sharaa to fully distance the country from acts of international terrorism. Syria was initially put on the list in 1979. Only three other countries are SST \u2014 Cuba, Iran and North Korea.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Rescinding Syria’s designation as an SST and HTS’ designation as an SDGT eliminates the final major barriers for private sector investment in Syria and promotes Syria’s economic recovery and reintegration into the global economy,” Rubio said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The World Bank estimated Syria’s reconstruction<\/a> costs at $216 billion in a report published in October 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Monday, Trump\u00a0posted on Truth Social<\/a> a photo of al-Sharaa and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani holding the president’s signed executive order that directed sanctions relief on Syria.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tom Barrack, U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Syria special envoy, described removing the SST designation as ushering in a new era of U.S.-Syrian relations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“For too long, this designation was another wall separating the Syrian people from the investment, enterprise, and opportunity necessary to rebuild their nation. Today, another wall comes down,”\u00a0he wrote on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Capital can replace conflict, enterprise can replace isolation, and commerce can continue to triumph over chaos.”<\/p>\n

There is overwhelming bipartisan support for the Trump administration’s sanctions relief on Syria, despite reservations over whether al-Sharaa had shed his terrorist past. Since taking over the country in December 2024, al-Sharaa has renounced his former ties with al Qaeda and the Islamic State and has used close relationships with Turkey and Saudi Arabia to appeal to Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But some lawmakers have raised concern about instances of sectarian violence, Syrian ties with Russia and fair representation in Syria’s new government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Trump administration on Monday formally removed Syria from its state sponsor of terrorism (SST) list, an extraordinary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[30],"tags":[58027,58267,17432,72481,72482,95,6223],"class_list":["post-263270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-syria","tag-designation","tag-international-terrorism","tag-secretary-of-state-marco-rubio","tag-specially-designated-global-terrorist","tag-sst","tag-syria","tag-syrian-government"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117152962482873625","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}