Senate votes to lift crippling sanctions on Syria

The Senate has voted to repeal the Caesar sanctions, which have imposed harsh restrictions on the Syrian economy since 2020, in a move welcomed by many lawmakers and experts on Syria.

The decision was buried in the Senate's annual defense policy bill, which passed in a 77-20 vote late Thursday. The news marks a major step forward for Syria, which has struggled to rebuild as sanctions continue to scare off needed investment despite President Donald Trump's stated desire to remove them.

Notably, the provision was not included in the House's version of the defense policy bill, meaning that it risks being removed in conference due to continued opposition to a clean repeal from many members of the House. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), who has supported lifting sanctions on Syria since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, called for a full lifting of sanctions.

"These very severe sanctions were imposed on a regime which, thankfully, no longer exists," Wilson wrote on X. "Syria's success now depends on FULL and TOTAL repeal."

As RS reported earlier this week, the repeal came through a compromise between Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). While Graham initially pushed to maintain the sanctions in order to pressure Syria's new government, he agreed after negotiations to a more modest proposal, which immediately removes the sanctions but requires the president to report to Congress about Syria's progress on various issues related to human rights and terrorism.

A Democratic congressional aide told RS that the Senate's repeal, while not fully "clean," amounted to a compromise that everyone involved can "live with." The staffer pointed to the fact that the law includes no "snapback" provision and would only indicate that it is the "sense of Congress" that sanctions should be reimposed if the Syrian government fails to make progress on human rights benchmarks.

The aide acknowledged that the provision, even if accepted by the House, may not be enough to encourage investors to take the risk of contributing to Syrian reconstruction, which is expected to cost as much as $400 billion. "There will still be a significant amount of hesitation because the word Caesar is still in there," the person said.

Sanctions continue to strangle the Syrian economy despite President Donald Trump's efforts to remove them, as RS reported in an essay earlier this week following this reporter's trip to Syria.

If the House joins the Senate in repealing Caesar, it will represent a major step toward encouraging investment. But, as Aaron Zelin of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy noted on X, some other sanctions still remain in place, including the designation of Syria's government as a state sponsor of terror.

Trump has the authority to repeal this designation unilaterally and is eventually expected to do so. But he has so far only ordered the State Department to review Syria's status as a sponsor of terrorism.

Syrian Finance Minister Mohammed Yisr Barnieh celebrated the Senate vote Friday and thanked Syrian diplomats for helping to make the argument for repeal. “This is a clear message to those who doubt Syria’s future that, with God’s help, Syria is [moving] toward stability, flourishing, and development,” Barnieh wrote on Facebook.