The United States has removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism as the Trump administration seeks to shape an emerging new order in the Middle East. But in its eagerness to seize that opportunity, it may have surrendered its leverage prematurely.
On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Syria’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism had been rescinded following a mandatory 45-day congressional notification period. At the same time, the State Department removed Hay’at Tahrir al Sham from its list of terrorist groups.
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“These actions represent another historic step by President Trump to give the Syrian people a path to prosperity,” the State Department said in a statement that also noted “unprecedented steps” by the administration to provide “sanctions relief for the benefit of the Syrian people.”
The U.S. first designated Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979, when it was well deserved.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Syria was a hub for the Muslim Brotherhood. It became a fountainhead for terrorism, used by groups such as Fatah and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine as a base for attacks on Israel.
Syria was the Soviet Union’s most important and staunch regional ally and gained a reputation for being the most intransigent of the Middle East’s many military dictatorships. Egypt and Jordan made peace with Israel, but Syria refused.
It joined the Islamic Republic of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” and became a haven for Tehran’s terrorist proxies. Syrian agents were linked to the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who sought an end to Syria’s decadeslong occupation of Lebanon.
In 2011, the so-called Arab Spring came for Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. He had been propped up by his Russian and Iranian patrons. He murdered his own citizens to keep his grip on power.
But by December 2024, with Israel destroying Iranian proxies and Russia bogged down in its invasion of Ukraine, Assad was easily ousted. The forces of Ahmed al Sharaa, once a member of al Qaeda in Iraq and the leader of its offshoot HTS, seized Damascus in an 11-day offensive.
The U.S. might finally have a chance to reset relations with an old foe. The Assads, with their support for Russia and Iran, are gone. Al Sharaa, allied with Turkey, a NATO ally, now stands in their place.
The second Trump administration considered the opportunity too good to pass up and began a process of reintegrating Syria into the U.S.-led international order. The removal of sanctions is part of that effort.
The White House hopes to gain influence with the new Syria. The logic makes sense.
Al Sharaa now rules a state that borders U.S. allies such as Jordan and Israel and has also served as a historic spoiler in Lebanon, a country where the Trump administration hopes to secure a peace agreement between Beirut and Jerusalem.
Trump hopes to keep Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his side. Turkish power in the region is growing, and Ankara has sold itself as a potential counterweight to both Tehran and Moscow.
Yet Erdogan has imperialist ambitions of his own. His AK Party has its origins in the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2020, Erdogan declared that Jerusalem is “our city,” and his foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, has given shelter and support to Hamas operatives.
Al Sharaa, his man in Damascus, once had a U.S. bounty on his head. He now wears suits, speaks before the United Nations, and has taken belated steps to absorb minorities such as the Kurds into his new government. But it’s less clear that he’s changed.
The Trump administration is gambling that al Sharaa has shed his ideology and that it’s better to appease his Turkish patron.
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A better strategy would have been to withhold sanctions relief and use it as leverage to ensure that both Erdogan and al Sharaa are on their best behavior.
Now the U.S. can only hope that Erdogan and al Sharaa aren’t who they’ve shown themselves previously to be. That is a risky bet.
