Trump administration removes Syria from State Sponsor of Terrorism list 

The U.S. formally rescinded Syria’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Monday, as part of the Trump administration sanctions relief for the country as it emerges from a nearly 14-year civil war.

The delisting follows a mandatory 45-day congressional notification period that began when President Donald Trump formally told lawmakers of his plans to rescind the designation.

The Trump administration also removed the status of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The group is also known as al-Nusrah Front.

The moves, which Rubio said remove major barriers for private sector investment in the country, follow the Syrian government’s efforts to counter terrorism since former President Bashar Assad was removed from power nearly two years ago.

“These actions were all taken in recognition of the positive actions taken and further commitments by the Syrian government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa to fully distance Syria from acts of international terrorism,” Rubio said.

Assad’s ouster brought an end to a civil war in the country that began in early 2011, a few years before the Islamic State emerged there and swept into Iraq in 2014.

Last November, the country was inducted into the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and has conducted operations to disrupt the networks of ISIS, al-Qaida, Hezbollah and Iran-aligned groups, Rubio said.

The U.S. had listed Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1979, when Washington accused the regime of Assad’s father, former Syrian President Hafez Assad, of supporting Palestinian militant groups.

The U.S. and other countries later accused Syria of planning attacks such as the 1986 plot to bomb an El Al airliner. Syria also supported Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group. 

Trump lifted comprehensive sanctions against the country in June 2025, but has maintained them on Bashar Assad, his associates and others, according to a summary of such measures on the Treasury Department’s website.

By removing the terrorism designations this week the U.S. opens the door to private investment in the country and “promotes Syria’s economic recovery and reintegration into the global economy,” Rubio said.

“These actions represent another historic step by President Trump to give the Syrian people a path to prosperity,” he said in his announcement.

The lifting of terrorism designations against Damascus came as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a new round of sanctions targeting Iran, as Washington seeks to ratchet pressure to end a nearly six-month war that has depleted weapons stockpiles and disrupted oil and merchant vessel transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

Bessent warned other countries to sever economic ties with the Islamic Republic or face “the hammer of U.S. Treasury actions.”

Iran is one of just three countries that remain on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism after Syria’s removal, alongside Cuba and North Korea.