Syrian sanctions released by Trump as experts see opportunities for us leverage

Earlier this week, the president Donald Trump Signing an executive order that lifts most US sanctions in Syria, experts say it reflects Iranian influence and growing awareness in Syria, the battlefield for Islamist horror.

“This is another promise and promise kept by this president,” she told reporters at a White House press conference Monday. “He’s committed Supporting Syria It is stable, united, and peace between itself and its neighbors. ”

“The sanctions did their job,” David Schenker, former Secretary of State for Near East Affairs and now a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, told Fox News Digital. “They were generally lame. There’s zero economic life in the country, but Trump is giving Syria the opportunity to succeed.”

Trump signs orders to lift sanctions in Syria

Javed Ali, a former National Security Council official and professor at the University of Michigan, told Fox News Digital: Iranian proxyto cooperate in counter-terrorism and integrate with Arab neighbours, will benefit our interests in all respects. ”

According to Schenker, Syria has taken steps the US has long requested. It allows testing with the IAEA to ban chemical weapons, shares intelligence regarding ISIS and works with the US liaison officer on anti-terrorism. “These groups declared Alshara as pagans. They themselves ISIS attacks” he pointed out.

For the United States, interests go far beyond sanctions relief. Schenker said stable Syria, focusing on education and social services rather than military accumulation, will be the less fertile foundation for ISIS and Iranian influences.

Ali described the present moment as part of a broader Trump strategy. “Now that Assad is gone, it’s another blow to Iran’s Islamic Republic. This creates an opportunity to unite Sunni Arab countries around Abraham’s coalition or the growing anti-Iranian coalition.”

The US military still maintains a small but important footprint in Syria – a troop of about 1,000 people at three to four bases in the northeast – offers important intelligence and quick strike capabilities. “That footprint was one of our most important counterterrorism front posts,” Ali said. “I’ve seen multiple target operations this year alone.”

Trump asks Syria to join Abraham’s agreement and normalizes relations with Israel in return for sanctions relief

However, he said deeper US-Syrian cooperation could lead to new complications. “As the bond grows deeper, there is always a risk that the US can reduce its presence or that Alshara may ask us to reduce it,” Ali said. “It could affect our ability to monitor jihadist activities and manage tens of thousands of ISIS detainees in camps protected by SDF forces.”

Meanwhile, the diplomatic implications of Trump’s movements have attracted global attention. Syria’s new leadership is openly distanced from Iran, blocking the shipment of Hezbollah’s weapons and reportedly dismantling multiple. Iranian army Submissions nationwide.

“The president is really focused on expanding. Abraham Accord“He sees Syria as the next possible candidate,” he said.

NSC spokesman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital. “President Trump is working towards lasting peace in the Middle East, including support for Syria in stable, unified and peace with itself and its neighbors. The President is empowering Syria’s success by lifting sanctions on export controls while maintaining sanctions against terrorists and all other potential threats. Promises.”

Still, normalization with Israel remains politically difficult. Syria is officially at war with the Jewish state, and while Shara hints at accepting pre-1974 ceasefire routes, jihadist and Muslim groups, Muslim groups within Syria stubbornly opposed. “An attempt to assassinate Shala has already been reported,” Schenker said. “If he moves from non-breding to full normalization, that’s going to be difficult.”

Charles Lister, director of the Syrian Program at the Middle East Institute, told Fox News Digital: “Syria has always been an open wound in the heart of the region, it is an unstable engine, but it unleashes the path of wider regional integration.

Click here to get the Fox News app

Despite the encouraged signs of diplomatic trucks, including reported back-channel talks and reduced rhetoric, Israeli airstrikes on Syrian territory continued, with hundreds of people released this year as well. Syrian new leadership has not responded militarily, but tensions remain high.

“The facts on earth do not yet reflect the progress being made in closed rooms,” Lister said. “We must hope that these two dynamics come together in the middle and things will settle down on the ground too.”