The Scoop
Advocates for fully normalized US-Syria relations told Semafor they were bullish President Donald Trump lifts the country’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism as soon as Wednesday, when he’s set to meet with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara.
After this story’s publication, Trump did just that, telling reporters following Wednesday’s meeting that “I think I will” ditch the label: “He’s done a great job,” Trump said of al-Sharaa.
Stripping the state sponsor of terrorism designation clears the way for private-sector investment in Syria, bolstering al-Sharaa’s government — and helping the US grow its foothold in the Middle East as it seeks a long-term deal to end the Iran war.
A State Department official had told Semafor Tuesday that a review of the designation Trump directed last June was still ongoing, adding that “a number of steps” would need to be taken before the designation could be removed. Chief among them: Notifying Congress, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio did Wednesday afternoon.
The call comes amid emerging evidence that keeping the designation in place has held back Trump’s goals in the region. The state sponsor of terrorism label, first imposed on Syria in 1979 after a previous regime sided with Palestinian militants, continues to repel the business deals the country says it needs to recover from its crippling civil war.
Companies “want to make investments, but the designation is an impediment,” Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., told Semafor, adding that he’s personally raised the matter with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“We’re not looking for perfect governments,” Wilson said. “And then there are people who benefit sadly from division and are trying to divide Syria — and it could be Iranian influence, or it could be extremists around the world trying to make it not possible for there to be a sovereign, secure, peaceful, and prosperous Syria.”
The GOP-controlled Congress overcame intraparty divides to repeal Caesar Act sanctions on Syria last year. The Trump administration has also scrapped other key restrictions — including al-Sharaa’s designation as a terrorist.
But the state sponsor of terrorism designation has created separate legal uncertainty for energy companies like Chevron and ConocoPhillips, which have already entered into agreements with Syria’s state-owned oil company — likely under the assumption the label would eventually be removed.
It’s also making it harder for tech companies to export their products to Syria, fueling fears the country could soon turn to China instead.
Nokia, for example, recently saw a deal to sell $30,000 of telecom equipment to Syria’s parliament delayed until it received a license from the US in June, according to people familiar with the process.
“There’s no legal or legislative reason for the SST [designation] to still be in place — nothing,” said Charles Lister, director of the Syria Initiative at the Middle East Institute.
“Everything I’ve heard is that it is finally a done deal in the last two or three weeks and, in Trump style, he’d like to announce it … with Sharaa,” Lister added.
Türkiye, the host of this year’s NATO summit, has advocated for scrapping the designation.
A White House official told Semafor in a statement for this story that “a Syria that is stable, unified, and at peace with itself and its neighbors” is “a key element of the President’s vision for a peaceful and prosperous Middle East,” adding: “Syria must not become a base for terrorism or pose a threat to its neighbors and the wider world.”
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Al-Sharaa, who visited the White House last year, is also slated to meet Wednesday with a congressional delegation led by Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen. The New Hampshire Democrat recently joined Wilson and Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., to urge Rubio to ditch the state sponsor of terrorism designation.
Some Trump administration officials have touted energy investments in Syria as a way to weaken Iran’s grasp on the world’s oil, bolstering arguments for the designation’s removal to encourage investments in production and pipelines.
US special envoy Tom Barrack asserted in March that Syria “has the sole geographic and geopolitical ability to be a solution to the Straits of Hormuz and the Red Sea.”
Dana Stroul, research director at the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy, described the designation as at odds with US efforts to install a military liaison in Damascus; share intelligence on ISIS; send back Syrian refugees; and transfer custody of ISIS prisoners.
Trump and al-Sharaa are also expected on Wednesday to discuss the former’s calls for Syria to intervene in Lebanon, where he’s predicted Syria could do “a better job” than Israel at fighting Hezbollah.
That suggestion has been met with skepticism on Capitol Hill and abroad, with Syria’s foreign minister telling Lebanon’s president earlier this month that officials had ruled it out.
Stroul predicted that Türkiye’s president would “explain to [Trump] why that’s not a great idea” this week — and Trump would listen.
“I do think that he will be willing to walk away from it, because there’s no ideology, conviction, or history driving things,” Stroul said. “He just looks at the situation [and] is frustrated that it’s not moving fast enough.”
Room for Disagreement
Israel’s allies in Washington continue to push back, arguing that the US should not remove Syria’s state sponsorship of terrorism designation — at least, not without conditions — in order to retain leverage over al-Sharaa as he sidelines the country’s Kurds.
Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., introduced legislation earlier this year that would require congressional review before the designation could be removed.
Notable
- Bloomberg profiled Barrack ahead of the NATO summit.
- The Washington Post took a look at how the designation risks boxing the US out of Syria’s recovery.
This story was updated to reflect new comments from Trump at the NATO summit.