ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Removing Syria from the United States' State Sponsors of Terrorism (STT) list is an important step toward the country's recovery and regional standing, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said Tuesday.
“This is an important step to support Syria's recovery, stability, and prosperity, and to reinforce its return to its natural role in the region and the world,” President Barzani said in a post on X.
He further hoped the US move would contribute to building “a secure future that safeguards the rights of all Syrian communities, opens broader horizons for developing its relations with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, and expands cooperation across various fields to serve our mutual interests.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio late Monday authorized the formal rescission of Syria's SST designation, while also delisting the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) as a “terrorist organization.”
Of note, the now-dissolved HTS is the armed group that led the offensive that toppled longtime Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and was formerly led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, now Syria's interim president.
"These actions represent another historic step by President [Donald] Trump to give the Syrian people a path to prosperity," Rubio said in a State Department statement, attributing the move to Damascus's commitments to "fully distance" itself from "acts of international terrorism."
He further pointed to Syria’s late 2025 joining of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State (ISIS) and its participation in operations against al-Qaeda, the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon and “Iran-aligned group” as the underlying reasons for the decision.
The step “eliminates the final major barriers for private sector investment in Syria and promotes Syria's economic recovery and reintegration into the global economy,” Rubio added.
Syria has been one of the initial countries designated onto the state-sponsor list since 1979.
Syria’s designation as an SST has been in effect since 1979. The status was initially based on the former Syrian regime’s support to groups like the Hezbollah movement, as well as its permissive stance toward other organizations labeled Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) by the US State Department.
The SST designation imposed significant sanctions, including bans on defense exports and foreign assistance. The removal of Syria from the list lifts the sanctions specifically tied to this status.
Moreover, the delisting comes as Trump in May 2025 announced plans to lift broad, economy-wide sanctions on Syria. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued General License 25, authorizing previously prohibited transactions.
In late June in the same year, the US President signed an executive order revoking six prior orders that formed the sanctions framework. Accordingly, OFAC removed 518 individuals and entities, including the Central Bank of Syria, from the Specially Designated Nationals List.
More importantly, Trump in late 2025 repealed the Caesar Act and its sweeping secondary sanctions. The restrictions of the act had heavily penalized non-US companies, individuals, and international banks for doing business in Syria.
