Syria sanctions lifted by Trump as experts see opportunity for US leverage

President at the beginning of this week Donald Trump Signed an executive order in which most US sanctions against Syria were lifted. Experts say that experts reflect the growing recognition within the administration that Syria, a battlefield for Iranian influence and Islamist terror, could now offer the USA a rare opportunity to regain regional levers, counteract enemies and to support allies such as Israel and Jordan.

At a press conference of the White House on Monday, the press spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters: “This is another promise and promise that this president has kept,” she said, referring to Trump’s recent meetings with the new transition leader Ahmed al-Sharaa Syria during a trip to Saudi Arabia. “He is committed Support of a Syria This is stable, uniform and in peace with yourself and his neighbors. “

“The sanctions have done their job,” David Schenker, former deputy foreign minister for the Middle East matters and now Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute, told Fox News Digital. “They have largely crippled. There is no economic life in the country. But Trump gives Syria the chance to be successful.”

Trump characters classify the sanctions on Syria

Javed Ali, former senior official of the National Security Council and professor at the University of Michigan, told Fox News Digital: Iranian deputyCooperates with the fight against terrorism and integrates into Arab neighbors in every front. “

According to Schenker, Syria has taken steps that the United States has been demanding for a long time: IAEO inspections and the organization to ban chemical weapons, parts of intelligence about IS and cooperation with American liaison officers about fighting terrorism. “These groups explained Al-Sharaa as unbelievers. They themselves are themselves be attacked by ISIS“, he noticed.

For the United States, the operations extend far beyond sanctions. Schenker said that a stable Syria that focuses on education and social services rather than military structure would be far less fertile for ISIS or Iranian influence.

Ali described the current moment as part of a wider Trump strategy: “Now with Assad it is another blow to the Islamic Republic of Iran. This creates an opportunity to merge the Sunnis Arab states to merged the Abraham’s agreement or an anti-Iran coalition.”

The US military still has a small but critical footprint in Syria – about 1,000 soldiers in three to four bases in the northeast – and offer important intelligence and quick strike functions. “This footprint was one of our most important outposts of the fight against terrorism,” said Ali. “We saw several targeted operations alone this year.”

Trump asks Syria to conclude Abraham, to normalize relationships with Israel in return for sanctions for relief

However, he said that deeper collaboration with the US Syrians could bring new complications. “There is always a risk that either the United States could reduce its presence-or al-Sharaa could ask us to scale back,” said Ali. “This could affect our ability to monitor jihadist activities or to manage the tens of thousands of ISIS prisoners who are still guarded in camps.”

The diplomatic implications of Trump’s move draw global attention. The new leadership of Syria has publicly distanced itself from Iran, according to reports that the Hisbollah weapons deliveries blocked and broken down several times several times Iranian military Contributions across the country.

“The president really focuses on expanding them Abraham Accords“Said Schenker.” He sees Syria as the next possible candidate. “

The NSC spokesman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital. “President Trump works in the Middle East to the permanent peace, which also includes the support of a stable, standardized and Friedens with himself and his neighbors. The president enables the success of Syria by increasing sanctions against export controls and at the same time maintaining sanctions against terrorists and all other possible threats. Chance to be a chance.

However, normalization with Israel remains politically burdened. Syria officially remains in the war with the Jewish state, and while Sharaa has indicated to accept the ceasefire borders before 1974, jihadist fractions and Islamist groups within Syria are still decidedly rejected. “It has already been reported on attacks for Sharaa,” said Schenker. “It becomes more difficult if he moves from non-belligerz to full normalization.”

Charles Lister, director of the Syria program at the Middle East Institute, told Fox News Digital: “Syria has always been an open wound in the center of the region – an engine of instability … but if it is stabilizing, it is now switching off for a wider regional integration.

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Despite encouraging signs on the diplomatic extension of the reported back channel talks and a reduced rhetoric sausage, Israeli air strikes on the Syrian territory continued, with hundreds being started alone this year. Syria’s new leadership did not react militarily, but the tensions remain high.

“The facts on the ground do not yet reflect the progress that are achieved behind closed doors,” said Lister. “We just have to hope that these two dynamics will meet in the middle and also calm down on the floor.”