UN Security Council Removes Syria’s President From Sanctions List

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The United Nations Security Council on Thursday voted to remove Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa from a long-standing terrorism sanctions list. The decision, a resolution drafted and actively advanced by the United States, marks the culmination of a stunning year-long transformation for the Syrian interim President, al-Sharaa, who, just a year ago, was an internationally sanctioned Islamist rebel leader with a $10 million American bounty on his head.

As reported by the New York Times, the U.N. vote, which passed with 14 members in favor and only China abstaining, is the latest and perhaps most significant milestone in al-Sharaa's rapid journey from militant to head of state. 

It comes just days before his planned visit to Washington on Monday, where he is expected to meet with President Donald Trump, an unprecedented invitation for a Syrian leader and a clear signal of his embrace by the West.

The removal from the sanctions list smooths the logistical and diplomatic runway for this visit and represents a powerful symbol of the international community's acceptance of the new reality in Damascus.

The story of Ahmed al-Sharaa's rise is one of the most remarkable and unexpected chapters in the turbulent history of the modern Middle East. A onetime member of the Sunni insurgency against U.S. forces in Iraq, he later rose to lead Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a rebel group in Syria that was once affiliated with Al Qaeda.

However, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, he disavowed the global terrorist network nearly a decade ago in a long and calculated effort to cultivate a more moderate image as a leader of the national opposition to the brutal dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad.

In November 2024, his forces launched a lightning rebel offensive that, to the astonishment of the world, caused the Assad regime to unravel and collapse in a matter of days, ending more than five decades of one-family rule.

Since coming to power, his new administration has made rapid and dramatic strides in forging diplomatic ties with foreign leaders, a process that has been actively encouraged and facilitated by the Trump administration. The shift in the U.S. posture has been swift and decisive.

In December, the U.S. government officially dropped the $10 million bounty on his head. In May of this year, President Trump met with al-Sharaa for the first time in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and shortly thereafter announced that the United States would lift sanctions on Syria. In July, the State Department formally revoked the terrorist designation for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

Despite this rapid rapprochement with Washington, al-Sharaa remained on the U.N. sanctions list, a legal and diplomatic hurdle that, as noted by The New York Times, forced him to seek special waivers for some of his international travel, including for his trip to the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September.

Thursday's Security Council vote removes this final, significant stigma, allowing him to travel freely and engage on the world stage as a fully recognized head of state. "Removing designations smooths the trip,” Alex Zerden, a former Treasury Department official, said in an interview with the Times, highlighting the practical importance of the move.

The upcoming meeting at the White House is expected to advance U.S. efforts to dismantle the complex web of sanctions that have crippled Syria's economy and impeded its ability to rebuild after a devastating 13-year civil war.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, administration officials are actively pushing for the repeal of a major U.S. sanctions law, the 2019 Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, which was passed in response to the horrific war crimes of the ousted Assad regime.

The Trump administration fears that if Syria is not reconnected to the global financial system, it will hamper the massive and costly effort to rebuild the country's shattered cities and infrastructure, heightening the risk of a renewed civil war.

Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Türkiye and Trump’s special envoy for Syria, has been a pivotal figure in shaping this policy, warning that there is "no Plan B" if the current government fails. "The Trump administration supports the full repeal of the Caesar Act,” a senior administration official told the Journal. “Removal is key to allow U.S. business and regional states to operate in Syria.”

The push for repeal has found support in the U.S. Senate, which has already passed legislation that would rescind the Caesar Act. However, there is still some resistance in the House of Representatives.

Skeptics, including the influential chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative Brian Mast, a Republican from Florida, have been wary about easing pressure on the new Damascus government, particularly after hard-line elements of al-Sharaa’s former rebel forces were implicated in deadly sectarian violence earlier this year.

"My concerns should be obvious to anyone following the situation in Syria,” Mr. Mast told The Hill on Thursday, signaling a potential legislative battle ahead.

The effort to lift sanctions is also being championed by an unlikely group: some American families of people who disappeared, were killed, or were detained in Syria during the long conflict. They argue that the removal of sanctions is essential to facilitate the complex and sensitive investigations needed to locate missing people and to properly excavate the countless mass graves left behind by the Assad regime.

Maryam Kamalmaz, the daughter of an American humanitarian worker believed to have been killed by the regime, explained that the prospect of sanctions being reimposed is an obstacle to this work, which depends on importing equipment and establishing long-term operations.

"It is going to take years and years and years,” she said. “So they need to know that they can establish an office and know that they are staying for years and not fear that they could be sanctioned.”

Despite the broad international support for the new government, Syria's transition has been rocky. In addition to the outbursts of sectarian violence, there have been concerns about al-Sharaa's leadership style, with power reportedly concentrated among a few loyalists. However, for many Syria-watchers and democracy advocates, the U.N.'s decision to delist the new president is a vital step in the right direction.

"This is a very important step,” said Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a nonprofit working for Syrian democracy causes. "This is a chance for a new Syria that is aligned with Western democracies."

As President al-Sharaa prepares for his historic visit to Washington, he does so no longer as a sanctioned former rebel, but as a recognized world leader, carrying with him the immense hopes and the heavy burdens of a nation desperate to emerge from the ashes of war.