May 13 (UPI) — Syrians have endured “brutal and crippling” sanctions over the past 14 years, and it’s time to end them, President Donald Trump announced while in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
“I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump told media in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Trump said Syrians have “seen so much misery and death” during a years-long civil war.
He agreed to end the sanctions against Syria at the urging of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Erdogan, The Hill reported.
The sanctions targeted the Assad regime and “served as an important function,” Trump said, “but now it’s time [for Syria] to shine.”
The U.S. designated Syria a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979 and imposed sanctions on the nation in 2004 and in 2011 following former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s efforts to end anti-government protests.
Sanctions imposed by the United States deprived Syria of access to global financial systems and added sanctions against the Assad regime while the Syrian civil war raged for several years.
The Biden administration in November sanctioned a Syrian conglomerate after accusing it of using oil revenues to fund Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds Force and Houthi militants for attacking U.S. forces in the Middle East.
Syria has endured civil war, terrorist attacks and sectarian warfare that included the Islamic State taking control of parts of the nation in 2014.
Western powers afterward undertook a bombing campaign to eliminate the Islamic State and restore full power to Syria.
Assad’s regime lost power in December when the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militia took control of the Syrian capital of Damascus and other parts of the country.
Syria’s new president is Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is a former member of al Qaeda who says he has reformed his ways.
The fall of Assad’s regime prompted the easing of some U.S. sanctions, but not all of them.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Syria’s new foreign minister in Turkey later this week, Trump said.
Tuesday’s announcement marks the president’s first of four days in the Middle East.
He also is scheduled to visit the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
