On a visit to Saudi Arabia on May 13, U.S. President Donald Trump dramatically announced the lifting of American sanctions on Syria. He added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would meet his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shaibani in Türkiye.   

The following day, Trump met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh, along with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan joined by video call.   

The decision to lift U.S. sanctions took many by surprise. Just days earlier, Trump had extended the sanctions regime Washington had imposed since 2004. While previous extensions had held the Assad regime responsible, Trump’s latest extension of the “national emergency with respect to the actions of the Government of Syria” placed responsibility at the door of the country’s new rulers.   

“Syria’s lack of structure and limited governance capability with respect to chemical weapons and combatting terrorist organizations continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” it read.   

It is clear that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf governments, as well as Türkiye, made intense diplomatic efforts to persuade Trump to lift sanctions and meet Al-Sharaa. Mention must also be made of the new government’s strenuous efforts, both domestically and abroad.   

At home, Syria’s new rulers have made significant strides in the country’s political transition, beginning with the National Dialogue Conference, followed by the drafting of a Constitutional Declaration and the formation of a transitional administration. Damascus is also in the process of forming a legislative council and drafting a final constitution, in preparation for general elections. All these steps are consistent with Security Council Resolution 2254 of 2015, seen internationally as the basis for Syria’s democratic transition.   

The government has also succeeded in preserving state institutions, ensuring the continued provision of services, establishing stability, and preventing chaos or the possibility of the country plunging into a civil war, as expected or pushed for by external parties. It has formed a committee to investigate the killings of Alawite civilians in the coastal region, and set up a higher committee for civil peace.   

It has signed an agreement with the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces to address the situation in northeastern Syria, and opened dialogues with civil society groups in the troubled southern region of Suwayda, affirming that the civil war has ended, and that it will not resort to violence in order to address the domestic situation.   

Internationally, the new government has cooperated exceptionally closely with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), international investigative bodies looking into human rights violations, and the United Nations’ Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic. It has halted drug production and cross-border smuggling, and pledged to combat terrorism and prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State group (ISIS), addressing the issue of foreign fighters and assuming responsibility for detention centers holding ISIS fighters and their family members in northeastern Syria.   

It has opened the country’s doors, without restrictions, for Syrian refugees to return from their countries of refuge; pledged to preserve the security of neighboring countries, including Israel; and expressed its willingness to engage in a regional peace agreement if the appropriate conditions emerge. It has also expressed its willingness to help in the search for missing Americans in Syria. It has emphasized its severing of ties with Iran and the withdrawal of all the Islamic Republic’s affiliated militias from Syria, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.   

These measures effectively removed all the pretexts preventing recognition of the new Syrian government and the lifting of sanctions. The Arab League quickly adopted this approach, allowing the new government to take Syria’s seat at the League. This was followed by recognition by the countries participating in the Paris Conference on Syria (Aqaba 3). The UN then granted the government the right to occupy Syria’s seat and raise the new Syrian flag.   

The European Union suspended its sanctions on several sectors of the Syrian economy, while the United Kingdom lifted its own, while the U.S. announced exemptions. The Treasury Department said these had been approved to ensure that sanctions did not hinder essential services and that the government could continue to perform its duties throughout Syria.   

The China Factor   

Yet beyond all of the new Syrian government’s efforts, domestically and internationally, two other factors appear to have been key to accelerating Trump’s decision to lift sanctions:   

• The lack of any prospect for improvements in Syria’s economic situation, which had threatened to prompt a total collapse. That would have caused services to grind to a halt and potentially meant a return to chaos and civil war. That in turn could have led to the partition of Syria and allowed extremist groups to stage a comeback. Iran would have been the primary beneficiary of such a collapse, something that would be anathema to most countries in the region—and to the U.S.   

• The repeated visits of Chinese diplomatic and business delegations to Syria, who have held direct meetings with President Al-Sharaa. This sparked numerous warnings that U.S. hesitancy in recognizing the Syrian government and lifting sanctions would push it to turn to China for economic investment, something that would increase Beijing’s influence in the region. This was totally unacceptable to the U.S., given its bitter global rivalry with China.   

In conclusion, Trump’s decision on Syria was important partly due to the lifting of sanctions, with the resulting positive impact on the economy, improving services, easing domestic tensions, and establishing stability. All this in turn could help increase domestic support for the new government.   

However, Trump’s decision had an even more important aspect: recognition of the government. He explicitly indicated his recognition, by saying, in his speech in Riyadh, “There’s a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace.” He crowned this recognition by directly meeting President Al-Sharaa and directing his foreign ministers to meet his Syrian counterpart. All this opens the door to full normalization between the U.S. and Syria.