Syrian Foreign Minister calls for further easing of US sanctions

Arab countries helped to convince Washington to ease some aid restrictions but more is needed, Asaad Al Shibani says during visit to Jordan

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani speaks in Amman on Tuesday. Reuters

Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani urged Washington on Tuesday to scrap all sanctions imposed during the former Assad regime and said lifting them partially was not enough to put the country on the road to recovery.

President Joe Biden's administration on Monday eased some US sanctions on Syria to allow an expansion of humanitarian assistance to Syrians under the interim administration installed by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), which led the rebel offensive that toppled former president Bashar Al Assad on December 8.

HTS traces its roots to Al Qaeda, and its leader, Ahmad Al Shara, was a wanted man in the US until last month, when a $10 million bounty was lifted after his meeting in Damascus with US officials. But Washington still considers HTS a terrorist organisation, a designation applied in 2014 when the armed group started becoming a main player in the civil war.

"These sanctions should be fully scrapped for the Syrian people to be granted a complete opportunity and live in peace and security and prosperity," Mr Al Shibani said in Amman.

He and other officials of the interim government visited the Jordanian capital on Tuesday as part of a regional tour to establish relations with Arab governments that had begun to restore ties with Mr Al Assad over the past three years.

Mr Al Shibani said the US sanctions "should have been scrapped immediately after the fall the regime" because they hinder a much-needed recovery "in all aspects".

Jordan and Arab countries played a part in convincing Washington to waive some of the sanctions on Syria but "the Assad regime has left a heavy legacy of problems with its people and with neighbours", he said.

"We will, God willing, erase this memory. Syria will be a source of security and stability and co-operation," he said.

Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, a sanctions specialist who teaches at Johns Hopkins University, told The National that the remaining sanctions could hinder would-be supporters of the new government "from making significant commitments in getting involved in the reconstruction, in engaging in trade, and in making investments".

But if the sanctions are lifted quickly, "there will be doubts about the extent to which the new leadership in Syria is incentivised to actually continue trying to create a more equitable and transparent governance structure for the country", Mr Batmanghelidj said.

An internationally backed reconstruction drive in Syria, he said, must be "tied to … a series of steps that incrementally lift sanctions, where at each milestone, you build trust that this is moving in the right direction".

For the next six months, the US will grant waivers to aid groups and companies to provide parts and services for Syria's water and electricity sectors, as well for sending humanitarian relief.

The US first imposed sanctions on the Syrian regime during the 1970-2000 rule of Mr Al Assad's father Hafez, who supported extremist Lebanese and Palestinian groups, as well as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey. It increased the sanctions in the 2000s, when Mr Al Assad supported militants in Iraq, and again after his forces killed thousands of civilians in a crackdown on a pro-democracy movement in 2011.

The Caesar Act passed by the US Congress in 2019 elevated sanctions on Syria to a new level, imposing bans on dealing with the Syrian regime and its associates across entire economic sectors. It was named after a photographer code-named Caesar who defected from Mr Al Assad's military and provided photos made public in 2014 that documented the killing of thousands of political prisoners.

Although HTS has its roots firmly in militant ideology, it has sought to project an image of moderation since taking charge in Damascus last month. The Syrian delegation that has been touring the region in recent days includes Defence Minister Marhaf Abu Qusra and intelligence chief Anas Khattab, a close associate of Mr Al Shara.

In Jerusalem a senior Israeli official said engagement with the new rulers in Damascus should proceed cautiously. “We want to warn everyone not to buy so quickly the attack of smiles or the short-term prop of using western suits to disguise the real essence of these groups,” Foreign Ministry Director General Eden Bar Tal said.

Additional reporting by Thomas Helm in Jerusalem and Matthew Kynaston in Beirut