US Congress Ends Sanctions on Syria

Washington (United States) (AFP) - The US Congress definitively ended on Wednesday the sanctions imposed on Syria under the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad, paving the way for the return of investments to this war-torn country.

President Donald Trump had already twice suspended the implementation of the sanctions, responding to calls from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, allies of the new government led by former jihadist Ahmed al-Sharaa.

But Sharaa had requested a permanent end to the sanctions, fearing that as long as these measures remained in place, they would deter companies wary of legal risks in the world's largest economy.

The Senate passed the repeal of the 2019 Caesar Act as part of a broad annual defense package. The Senate voted 77 to 20 in favor of the legislation, which had already been approved by the House of Representatives and is expected to be signed by Trump.

The repeal, widely supported by legislators from both parties, "is a decisive step to give the Syrian people a real chance to rebuild after decades of unimaginable suffering," said Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The Caesar Act, named after an anonymous photographer who documented atrocities in Assad's prisons, severely restricted investments and cut Syria off from the international banking system.

This law aimed to prevent an influx of foreign companies from rebuilding Syria at a time when it seemed Assad had triumphed after more than a decade of brutal civil war that caused a massive flow of refugees to Europe and contributed to the rise of the extremist Islamic State movement.

Sharaa's fighters took Damascus a year ago during a lightning offensive.

Sharaa — now dressed in a business suit and seeking to improve relations with the West — impressed Trump, notably during their first meeting during the US leader's trip to Riyadh in May.