Rubio removes Syria from U.S. state sponsors of terrorism list

U.S. also removes group that toppled Assad from terrorism list

The delisting came roughly six weeks after President Donald Trump informed Congress in July of his intent to lift Syria’s decades-old terrorism designation. The status had barred Syria from most U.S. foreign assistance and restricted what could be exported to the country, and required the United States to oppose foreign institutions such as the World Bank from granting Syria loans.

In a separate action, Rubio removed Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham from its listing as specially designated global terrorists. The coalition of northern Syria-based Sunni Islamist groups led the military campaign that toppled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in late 2024.

Rubio framed both actions in a statement as recognition of “positive actions taken and further commitments by the Syrian government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa to fully distance Syria from acts of international terrorism.” He cited as reasons Syria’s joining of the Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State and what he described as terrorism-disrupting operations targeting ISIS and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Syria was among the first countries designated by the United States as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979. According to a Congressional Research Service report, the original 1979 designation cited Syria’s hostility to Israel, fighting with Lebanon, partnership with Iran, alignment with Russia, support for terrorist groups, and development of weapons of mass destruction.

Since the fall of al-Assad in late 2024, Syria’s relations with the United States and much of the Western world have steadily improved. In June, Trump signed an executive order ending most U.S. sanctions on Damascus. The July notification to Congress started a 45-day clock before formal removal could occur.

Rubio said the removal of the designations “eliminates the final major barrier for private sector investment in Syria and promotes economic recovery and reintegration into the global economy.”

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a statement congratulating the Syrian people on their country’s removal from the U.S. list. “Today, Syria is casting off a black mark from its shoulders, and with its own hands, tearing out a page from its painful past, so that it may set out toward development, reconstruction and building,” al-Sharaa said in a recorded statement. He added: “Great people of Syria, you have done it again. The sanctions have been lifted from you and the restrictions have been removed. I ask almighty God to help us serve you.”

Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, called the delisting “a historic step that returns it to its natural place within the global economic system.” Raslan said the central bank is “working to build a modern and reliable financial system, capable of keeping pace with and benefiting from all opportunities,” adding, “And what is to come is better, God willing.”