Trump Moves To Legitimize Ex-Jihadist Leader’s Regime
President Donald Trump said that he would work to remove Syria’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism on Wednesday during his meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the NATO summit in Turkey.
President Donald Trump said that he would work to remove Syria’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism on Wednesday during his meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the NATO summit in Turkey.
The State Department followed up on Trump’s comments at the NATO summit by posting a Wednesday press releaseformalizing Trump’s decision. Al-Sharaa’s movement, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), split from al-Qaeda in 2017, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies; however, the State Department revoked the group’s Foreign Terrorist Organization designation in 2025.
A senior Trump administration official confirmed the development with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The State Department could not provide a response before the publication deadline.
A reporter asked the president if he would remove Syria as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.
“I think I will, yeah. I think I will, why wouldn’t I? He’s done a great job,” Trump said in a video on C-SPAN. “Uh, maybe he would have wrote that up in a little, but that’s a good question. Yeah, I will.”
“Lifting sanctions on Syria will unlock international trade and investment, give Syria a chance to rebuild, and open up a new chapter for the Syrian people,” the State Department’s press release states. “A stable, unified Syria at peace with itself and its neighbors benefits not only the region, but the entire world.”