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<\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Washington has granted Syria broad exemptions from sweeping economic sanctions in a step towards fulfilling US President Donald Trump\u2019s promise to help the country get a \u201cfresh start\u201d after more than 14 years of civil war.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Late on Friday the Treasury Department issued a general licence that authorises any future transactions with individuals and entities connected to the nascent government of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/8aa819a3-2fc7-4790-be00-b42f21ed1c4e\" data-trackable=\"link\">Ahmed al-Sharaa<\/a>, as well as the central bank and several state-owned enterprises.<\/p>\n<p>This is \u201ceffectively lifting sanctions on Syria\u201d, it said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The licence \u201cwill enable new investment and private sector activity consistent with the President\u2019s America First strategy\u201d, the statement said, adding that it would \u201cfacilitate activity across all sectors of the Syrian economy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The State Department also issued a 180-day waiver for the so-called Caesar Act, a stringent set of sanctions imposed by Congress in 2019 that aimed to isolate Syria\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/35855345-05b5-4e4f-a978-2754cd8b31ab\" data-trackable=\"link\">then-rulers the Assad dynasty<\/a> by rendering anyone who did business with them a pariah in the global financial system.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The waiver will facilitate the provision of electricity, energy, water and sanitation and enable greater humanitarian efforts. But investors have expressed concern that the potential for sanctions to return after six months could chill private sector interest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday\u2019s actions represent the first step in delivering on the President\u2019s vision of a new relationship between Syria and the United States,\u201d Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rubio added that the president expected that relief from sanctions would be followed by \u201caction\u201d on a key set of policy priorities Washington asked Sharaa to adhere to, after Trump announced he would roll back sanctions earlier this month. Those include expelling foreign militants as well as what Trump called \u201cPalestinian terrorists\u201d and helping the US prevent the resurgence of Isis.<\/p>\n<p>Trump said his decision to lift sanctions, announced during <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/23afa500-cfd8-4fb7-b950-57be74714172\" data-trackable=\"link\">a visit to Riyadh<\/a> earlier this month, was intended to give the fledgling government a better chance of survival. He also said Washington was exploring normalising relations with the new government. Following Trump\u2019s announcement, the EU rolled back its sanctions on Syria last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Syrian foreign ministry welcomed the waiver, which it called a \u201cpositive step in the right direction to alleviate the country\u2019s humanitarian and economic suffering\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The general licence will grant an exemption to those transacting with Syrian Arab Airlines and the Central Bank of Syria as well as other banks, state oil and gas companies and the Four Seasons hotel in Damascus. It also grants an exemption to those transacting with Sharaa himself; he was sanctioned by the US in 2013 under his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani.<\/p>\n<p>The Syrian leader and his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham movement, which dominates the new government and security forces, were designated terrorists by the US because of past affiliations with al-Qaeda. Sharaa renounced his ties to al-Qaeda in 2016 and has pledged that his government will remain inclusive.<\/p>\n<p>Syrians hope that easing sanctions will clear the way for the country\u2019s recovery by allowing for an influx of foreign investment and trade and will boost Sharaa as he battles to consolidate his administration\u2019s control over the fragmented nation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/f555ac7e-bab8-4e85-8952-dbf3a27d59c0\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington,…\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":29010,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}