The US removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, the latest step in Damascus moving to close the book on the Bashar al-Assad era and a decade-long civil war. Assad’s brutal dictatorship presided over mass human rights violations, an economic collapse, and ultimately a vicious internecine conflict that left huge numbers dead and millions displaced until he was overthrown in 2024.
Syria’s current government, led by the former Islamist Ahmed al-Sharaa, has taken steps to cast off the country’s pariah status: Most recently, the IAEA said it had found “tons of nuclear materials” at a previously undisclosed Assad regime site, while a court this week sentenced a top religious cleric for inciting violence during the dictator’s rule.