Trump Makes Good on Promise to Syria's Leader

President Trump signed an executive order on Monday ending most US economic sanctions on Syria, following through on a promise he made to the country's new interim leader. The order states that the US is "committed to supporting a Syria that is stable, unified, and at peace with itself and its neighbors."

• "The executive order is meant to "end the country's isolation from the international financial system, setting the stage for global commerce and galvanizing investments from its neighbors in the region, as well as from the United States," the Treasury Department's acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Brad Smith, told reporters earlier Monday, per the AP.

• Monday's actions do not rescind sanctions imposed on ousted former President Bashar Assad, his top aides, family members, and officials who had been determined to have committed human rights abuses or been involved in drug trafficking or part of Syria's chemical weapons program. Known as the Caesar Act sanctions, they can only be repealed by law.
• Along with the lifting of economic sanctions, Monday's executive order lifts the national emergency outlined in an executive order issued by former President George W. Bush in response to Syria's occupation of Lebanon and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and missile programs, Treasury officials said. Five other previous executive orders related to Syria were also lifted.
• Sanctions targeting terrorist groups and manufacturers and sellers of the amphetamine-like stimulant Captagon will remain in place.
• The US still designates Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism and the group led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, the country's interim leader, as a foreign terrorist organization. A State Department official said the department is reviewing those designation