May 13 (UPI) — Syrians have endured “brutal and crippling” sanctions over the past 14 years, and it’s time to end them, President Donald Trump announced while in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
“I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump told media in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Trump said Syrians have “seen so much misery and death” during a years-long civil war.
He agreed to end the sanctions against Syria at the urging of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Erdogan, The Hill reported.
The sanctions targeted the Assad regime and “served as an important function,” Trump said, “but now it’s time [for Syria] to shine.”
The U.S. designated Syria a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979 and imposed sanctions on the nation in 2004 and in 2011 following former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s efforts to end anti-government protests.
Sanctions imposed by the United States deprived Syria of access to global financial systems and added sanctions against the Assad regime while the Syrian civil war raged for several years.
The Biden administration in November sanctioned a Syrian conglomerate after accusing it of using oil revenues to fund Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds Force and Houthi militants for attacking U.S. forces in the Middle East.
Syria has endured civil war, terrorist attacks and sectarian warfare that included the Islamic State taking control of parts of the nation in 2014.
