Two US Lawmakers Urge Gradual Sanctions Relief for Post-Assad Syria

Tanks abandoned by the Syrian army are pictured outside Damascus, on Dec. 9, 2024. Bakr Alkasem/ AFP

A pair of U.S. lawmakers have called on the Biden administration to begin gradually lowering sanctions against Syria, after former president Bashar al-Assad lost power and fled the country on Dec. 8.

In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Dec. 10, Reps. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) and Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) said U.S. sanctions were instrumental in breaking Assad’s hold on power, but should now be cut back.

“As co-authors of the Assad Regime Anti-Normalization Act, which aimed to extend and strengthen the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, we believe the regime’s collapse demonstrates the potential effectiveness of targeted economic sanctions,” Wilson and Boyle wrote.

“Assad’s economy was hollowed out by the sanctions which denied his regime the resources to sustain his military, and ultimately contributed to its collapse.”

Assad had served as the president of Syria since 2000, and he and his allies defended his claim to power throughout a multi-sided civil war that began in 2011 and is still ongoing.

Wilson and Boyle said Assad’s expulsion opens an opportunity for the United States to begin relaxing sanctions to allow the Syrian people to rebuild at home, and to resume international trade and diplomacy.

The bipartisan pair suggested a deliberate, incremental approach to lowering sanctions will help “to ensure that former regime elements are unable to access their assets, that designated terrorist organizations are denied access to the international financial system, and to incentivize the transitional government’s compliance with international norms.”

The still-ongoing civil war, and the various factions at play, could complicate the sanctions question.

Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)—a Sunni Islamist faction that formed out of the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, and which the United States regards as a terrorist group—launched the late November offensive that fractured the Assad loyalist lines and compelled the Syrian leader to flee the country.

HTS has since announced a transitional government in Syria and named one of its members, Mohammed al-Bashir, to serve as interim prime minister until March 1, 2025.

In a Dec. 8 address celebrating Assad’s fall from power, President Joe Biden indicated his administration is continuing to watch how the various anti-Assad factions behave in his absence.

“Make no mistake, some of the rebel groups that took down Assad have their own grim record of terrorism and human rights abuses,” Biden said.

“We’ve taken note of statements by the leaders of these rebel groups in recent days. And they’re saying the right things now, but as they take on greater responsibility, we will assess not just their words, but their actions.”

In a Dec. 10 press call, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said there are no discussions so far within the Biden administration to remove the U.S. terror group designation against HTS.

Wilson and Boyle argued sanctions relief could bolster U.S. goodwill in Syria and mitigate extremist influences in the country.

“The ultimate goal of sanctions is to bring about a positive change in behavior,” a State Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times on Dec. 11.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and assess HTS’s actions to inform our position going forward.”

The Epoch Times also reached out to the White House and Treasury Department for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.