Trucks carrying around 60 displaced families gather on the highway as they head to their village, Kafr Sijna, after more than five years in the Atmeh camps near the Syrian-Turkish border, on a highway north of Kafr Sijna, Syria, Sunday, May 18, 2025.
Syria welcomes US move to ease sanctions imposed on it
A statement by the foreign ministry said Syria 鈥渆xtends its hand鈥 to anyone that wants to co-operate with Damascus, on the condition that there is no intervention in the country鈥檚 internal affairs.
Trucks carrying around 60 displaced families gather on the highway as they head to their village, Kafr Sijna, after more than five years in the Atmeh camps near the Syrian-Turkish border, on a highway north of Kafr Sijna, Syria, Sunday, May 18, 2025.
DAMASCUS, Syira (AP) 鈥 Syria welcomed Saturday the move by the Trump administration to ease sanctions imposed on the war-torn country, calling it a 鈥減ositive step鈥 to ease humanitarian and economic suffering.
A statement by the foreign ministry said Syria 鈥渆xtends its hand鈥 to anyone that wants to co-operate with Damascus, on the condition that there is no intervention in the country鈥檚 internal affairs.
Saturday鈥檚 statement came a day after the Trump administration granted Syria sweeping exemptions from in a major first step toward fulfilling the president鈥檚 pledge to lift a half-century of penalties on a country shattered by 14 years of civil war.
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A measure by the State Department waived for six months a tough set of sanctions imposed by Congress in 2019. A Treasury Department action suspended enforcement of sanctions against anyone doing business with a range of Syrian individuals and entities, including Syria鈥檚 central bank.
The congressional sanctions, known as the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, had aimed to isolate Syria鈥檚 previous rulers by effectively expelling those doing business with them from the global financial system. They specifically block postwar reconstruction, so while they can be waived for 180 days by executive order, investors are likely to be wary of reconstruction projects when sanctions could be reinstated after six months.
The Trump administration said Friday鈥檚 actions were 鈥渏ust one part of a broader U.S. government effort to remove the full architecture of sanctions.鈥 Those penalties had been imposed on the Assad family for their support of Iranian-backed militias, their chemical weapons program and abuses of civilians.
Trump said during a visit to the region earlier this month that the U.S. the heavy financial penalties in a bid to give the interim government a better chance of survival.
Syria鈥檚 foreign ministry said dialogue and diplomacy are the best way to build 鈥渂alanced relations that achieve the interest of the people and strengthen security and stability in the region.鈥
It added that the coming period in Syria will be reconstruction and restoring 鈥淪yria鈥檚 natural status鈥 in the region and around the world.
