President Donald Trump on Thursday repealed the so-called Caesar Act sanctions on Syria, when he signed the National Defence Authorisation Act for Fiscal Year 2026 into law.
The Senate passed the bipartisan legislation this week with a vote of 77 to 20. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives last week.
The Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, signed into law in 2019, was aimed at members of the regime of former president Bashar Al Assad who were accused of war crimes and human rights abuses.
The repeal of the sanctions requires a review of the situation in Syria every 180 days over the course of four years to ensure that Damascus is taking appropriate action in areas including fighting ISIS, removing foreign fighters from government roles, and upholding religious and ethnic minority rights.
If the US government finds that the Syrian government is off track in these goals, the bill stipulates that it can impose sanctions on individuals until Damascus adjusts course.
“Today’s repeal of the Caesar Act is a decisive step toward giving the Syrian people a real chance to rebuild after decades of unimaginable suffering,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who has long advocated for the removal of the sanctions, said in a statement. “This step will advance America’s national security by promoting stability in an unsettled region, helping to deny ISIS a safe haven and preventing Iran from exercising its dangerous influence.”
Representative Joe Wilson, who has also been an advocate for the repeal of the sanctions, hailed the Senate's passage of the bill on X.
“Grateful the Senate has passed FULL & COMPLETE repeal of Caesar sanctions by passing the FY26 NDAA … I told you Trump would fix it!” he wrote, hailing Ms Shaheen, US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack and Syrian American who “never gave up”.
“Make Syria Great Again!”
Mohammed Alaa Ghanem of the Syrian American Council, which has lobbied for the sanctions' repeal, said on social media that the passage of the bill “closes a painful chapter” for the country.
“At last, there’s space to rebuild lives, restore dignity, and move forward,” he wrote in a post. “A victory secured. A new chapter begins.”
Hayat Tahrir Al Sham toppled the Assad regime in December last year, ending decades of oppressive rule. Relations between the US and Syria have been warming since then, and Damascus has been working to secure sanctions relief from Washington and other governments around the world.
During his trip to the Gulf in May, Mr Trump announced that Washington would remove Assad-era sanctions on the country.
In August, the US Treasury Department announced it was removing Syria from its sanctions list. And in June, members of Congress introduced legislation a month later aimed at repealing the Caesar Act.
When Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara visited Washington last month, the Treasury Department and the Department of Commerce said Caesar Act sanctions would be removed for a period of 180 days, with exceptions of certain transactions with Russia and Iran. The waiver renewed a May 23 pause.
Among the bill's other provisions impacting the Middle East was a stipulation that aid to the Lebanese military could become contingent on progress in disarming Hezbollah.
The massive bill, running to more than 3,000 pages, also included continued US security guarantees for Israel and measures designed to counter Iranian threats.
