- US lawmakers seek rollback of Syria sanctions.
- Syrian American Council welcomes this move.
- Sign of confidence in Syria’s leadership.
SAC is an advocacy group with headquarters in the UnitedStates that focuses on Syrian politics and interaction with Syrian populations.
The Council's Grassroots Advocacy Officer, Alberto Hernandez, told that recent events on Capitol Hill, such as multiple congressional visits to Damascus, have led to favorable evaluations of Syria's new course and created opportunities for collaboration on counterterrorism and counternarcotics.
He cited the flip of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, who now intends to approve the repeal of the Caesar Act, calling it "the correct step" in bringing US policy into line with local circumstances.
SAC claims that comparable momentum is developing in the Senate, where S.3172 has been submitted by Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Markwayne Mullin, and Joni Ernst, who all visited interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa this summer. In an attempt to undo the Trump-Biden Caesar sanctions system, the measure aims to abolish sanctions regimes created in 2003 and 2012, including the Syria Accountability Act and the Syria Human Rights Accountability Act.
Hernandez stated that Syria's new government is attempting to stabilize the nation and mend ties with regional and international allies.
"These laws were designed to pressure a regime that no longer exists,"
Hernandez said.
He stated that SAC is hopeful that Syria's new administration would achieve and surpass these expectations while maintaining what he called a favorable trajectory, and that the final National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will contain reporting metrics to measure success. The group is still committed to dismantling the multi-layered sanctions infrastructure that was built up under four different governments, he continued.
According to the SAC source, the council anticipates the publishing of the NDAA's whole text around the second week of December. As part of the yearly legislative process, the bill must then pass both chambers and be approved by the president by the end of the year.
How will the sanctions rollback affect humanitarian aid access in Syria?
The rollback of crucial US warrants on Syria, via Trump's June 2025 Administrative Order and advancing congressional legislation, will significantly ameliorate philanthropic aid access by easing broad profitable restrictions that preliminarily hindered delivery despite immunity.
Previous warrants caused overcompliance by banks, delaying fund transfers and remittances critical for aid operations; lifting them restores Syria's access to global fiscal systems, speeding exigency responses( e.g.,post-earthquake aid).
Trade walls on food, drug, energy, and reconstruction accoutrements ( e.g., for hospitals seminaries) lift, addressing dearths and price hikes affecting 16.5 million demanding aid; energy warrants junking ensures electricity/ energy for aid logistics. Enables early recovery/ tone- reliance enterprise( e.g., structure rebuild), reducing reliance on exigency aid amid 90 poverty rates.