The move follows a similar UN Security Council decision and comes days before Ahmad al-Sharaa’s planned meeting with Donald Trump
The UK has lifted sanctions on Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, following a United Nations decision to remove him from its terrorist list. The move comes ahead of al-Sharaa’s planned visit to the United States.
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) published an official notice on Friday, stating that al-Sharaa, as well as Interior Minister Anas Khattab, have been removed from its blacklist and “are no longer subject to an asset freeze.”
Both men were delisted by the UN Security Council the day before, after members voted in favor of a US-drafted resolution to remove them from the ISIL and Al-Qaeda Sanctions List.
Al-Sharaa, who once led the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) under his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani, assumed power after wresting control from former President Bashar Assad.
The US has been urging the 15-member Security Council to ease sanctions on Syria since al-Sharaa met US President Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia in May – the first encounter between the two nations’ leaders in more than two decades. Trump later announced a major US policy shift, saying he would lift sanctions on Syria.
Last week, US Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack confirmed that al-Sharaa would visit Washington, DC, next week. During the visit, Damascus will “hopefully” join the US-led coalition to defeat Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), he added. It will be the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to the White House.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that Washington wants to expand its military presence in Syria and is in discussions with Damascus over the use of an airbase by American troops. The agreement, reportedly linked to a non-aggression pact between Syria’s new authorities and Israel, is expected to establish a demilitarized zone in the south of the country.
The US has maintained a foothold in Syria through a controversial base in its southeast, surrounded by an exclusion zone that Moscow has described as a safe haven for terrorists. Neither Assad nor the new government led by al-Sharaa has authorized an American presence in the country.
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