US Lifts Syria Sanctions, Paving Way for Normalisation

Syria’s government and its allies on Friday welcomed the final lifting of the most draconian sanctions imposed on the country in recent decades.

- Agencies

The US Congress imposed the so-called Caesar Act sanctions in 2019, targeting Syria's government and financial system to punish President Bashar al-Assad’s administration as it fought to end a nearly 14-year civil war that began in 2011 with Western backing for opposition forces.

During the conflict, Damascus relied heavily on its ally Iran, which for decades had worked to build an “axis of resistance” to shore up its regional defences. The axis was central to Tehran's strategy to deter Israel and the United States and relied on Syria as a crucial land corridor linking Iran to the Levant.

That corridor connected Tehran to the powerful Lebanese ally Hezbollah, an integral part of the axis, providing what analysts described as its logistical backbone.

Underscoring Syria's importance, Iran spent billions of dollars to retain hold on Damascus. Tehran intervened militarily in Syria's civil war in 2013, deploying hundreds of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) officers to recruit and train tens of thousands of local and foreign fighters, playing a decisive role in shoring up the Syrian army.