United States lifts Syria's state sponsor of terrorism designation after 47 years

[Financial News] The United States government, which has moved to improve ties with Syria's new government formed last year, said it will remove Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism after 47 years.
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement on the official website on the 24th, local time, "Today I have approved the formal revocation of Syria's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, as the 45-day mandatory congressional notification period has ended." He also lifted the "Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT)" designation on Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Sunni Islamist rebel group that ousted former President Bashar al-Assad from Syria in December 2024.
The United States designated Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979, when former President Hafez al-Assad was in power. Hafez al-Assad's rule was inherited by his son, former President Bashar al-Assad, in 2000. After a civil war that lasted about 13 years, Bashar al-Assad was driven out of Syria by HTS in 2024.
Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who had led HTS, later took office as president of Syria's transitional government and governed the country. United States President Donald Trump responded positively to HTS, which toppled the pro-Iran Assad regime in the Middle East. Trump met Al-Sharaa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May last year, marking the first face-to-face summit between the United States and Syria in 25 years. In June of the same year, he signed an executive order easing sanctions on Syria. Trump also met Al-Sharaa at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit held in Turkey last month. The State Department notified Congress on the 8th of last month that it would lift Syria's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Rubio described the move on the 24th as "another historic step by the president of the United States to open a path for the Syrian people toward prosperity." He explained that "these actions were taken in recognition of the positive steps and additional commitments made by the Syrian government led by Al-Sharaa to fully separate Syria from international terrorist activity."
By lifting Syria's state sponsor of terrorism designation and HTS's SDGT designation, Rubio said, "the last major barrier to private-sector investment in Syria has been removed, and this will promote Syria's economic recovery and reintegration into the global economy."
 
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