People celebrate at the Umayyad Mosque following the collapse of the 61-year-long Baath regime in Syria and the end of the Assad family’s rule in Damascus, Syria, on December 13, 2024. On Wednesday, a U.S. Senate committee advanced legislation to end Assad-era sanctions imposed on Syria. File Photo by Omar Haj Kadour/UPI | License Photo
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has advanced legislation to repeal decades-old sanctions imposed on Syria, as relations between Washington and Damascus continue to thaw.
The committee sent S. 3172 to the full Senate for consideration on Wednesday. The bill seeks to repeal two laws imposed against Syria, the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003 and the Syria Human Rights Accountability Act of 2012.
The first was signed into law in 2003 by President George W. Bush and implemented by executive order to punish the regime of then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over its support for terrorism, military presence in Lebanon and weapons programs.
President Barack Obama signed the second law in 2012 in response to the Assad regime’s crackdown on protesters, a hard-line response that helped plunge Syria into more than a decade of civil war.
Sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and co-sponsored by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, S. 3172 would repeal both laws but preserve authorities to sanction human rights abusers and other so-called bad actors.
The advancement of the bill comes 18 months after jihadist-led rebels ousted Assad, who fled to Russia, ending his family’s five-decade rule of the country in December 2024.
Since then, the United States and Syria’s new government have experienced a rapprochement. U.S. President Donald Trump has twice met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, including at the White House, and has moved to lift or waive some sanctions imposed on the country, including the Caesar Syrian Civilian Protection Act earlier this year.
The bill was advanced Wednesday in a unanimous vote, according to the Syrian American Council, which said if passed by Congress, the remaining sanctions imposed on Syria by Congress would be lifted.
“SAC and the Syrian-American community wish to extend our deep thanks to all members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for approving this very important legislation,” Zaki Labadidi, board member and director of SAC Syria Office, said in a statement emailed to UPI.
“This bipartisan effort to move this measure forward shows once again that just as with the repeal of the Caesar Act, Congress is demonstrating its commitment to making the U.S. a friend and ally of the Syrian people.”
