{"id":4295,"date":"2025-12-11T05:35:39","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T05:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/us-congress-advances-bill-to-nix-caesar-act-sanctions-on-syria\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T05:35:39","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T05:35:39","slug":"us-congress-advances-bill-to-nix-caesar-act-sanctions-on-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/us-congress-advances-bill-to-nix-caesar-act-sanctions-on-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"US Congress advances bill to nix Caesar Act sanctions on Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>The US has rolled back a series of restrictive economic sanctions put in place during the rule of Bashar al-Assad.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>The United States House of Representatives has voted forward a bill that would end the restrictive Caesar Act sanctions on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/11\/10\/ahmed-al-sharaa-meets-trump-as-us-extends-syria-sanctions-relief\">Syria<\/a>, originally imposed during the rule of former leader Bashar al-Assad.<\/p>\n<p>The bid to repeal the sanctions was passed on Wednesday as part of a larger defence spending package, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/9\/i-belong-in-my-own-country-syrians-celebrate-a-year-after-al-assad\">\u2018I belong in my own country\u2019: Syrians celebrate a year after al-Assad<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/8\/one-year-since-the-fall-of-bashar-al-assad-a-timeline\">One year since the fall of Bashar al-Assad: A timeline<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/11\/10\/ahmed-al-sharaa-meets-trump-as-us-extends-syria-sanctions-relief\">Trump hosts Syria\u2019s al-Sharaa at White House as US extends sanctions relief<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>\u201cWith this NDAA, as many know, we are repealing sanctions on Syria that were placed there because of Bashar al-Assad and the torture of his people,\u201d Representative Brian Mast of Florida said. \u201cWe\u2019re giving Syria a chance to chart a post-Assad future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mast had previously been opposed to dropping the sanctions. In his statement on the House floor on Wednesday, he warned that, under the bill, the White House could \u201creimpose sanctions if the president views it necessary\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The bill now heads to the Senate and is expected to be voted on before the end of the year.<\/p>\n<p>If passed, the NDAA would repeal the 2019 Caesar Act, which sanctioned the Syrian government for war crimes during the country\u2019s 13-year-long civil war.<\/p>\n<p>It would also require the White House to issue frequent reports confirming that Syria\u2019s new government is combating Islamist fighters and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2025\/6\/25\/deadly-church-attack-raises-security-fears-for-syrians-minorities\">upholding the rights<\/a> of religious and ethnic minorities.<\/p>\n<p>Human rights advocates have welcomed the\u00a0easing of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/6\/30\/trump-formally-orders-lifting-of-syria-sanctions\">heavy sanctions<\/a> that the US and other Western countries imposed on Syria during the war.<\/p>\n<p>They argue that lifting those economic restrictions will aid Syria\u2019s path towards economic recovery after years of devastation.<\/p>\n<p>The Caesar Act was signed into law during President Donald Trump\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n<p>But in December 2024, shortly before Trump returned to office for a second term, rebel forces toppled al-Assad\u2019s government, sending the former leader fleeing to Russia.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has since removed many sanctions on Syria and met with President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the push that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/8\/one-year-since-the-fall-of-bashar-al-assad-a-timeline\">ousted al-Assad<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But some sanctions can only be removed by Congress, a step that Trump has encouraged lawmakers to take.<\/p>\n<p>This month, Syrians <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/8\/with-flags-and-fireworks-syrians-celebrate-one-year-since-fall-of-al-assad\">celebrated<\/a> the one-year anniversary of al-Assad\u2019s overthrow with fireworks, prayer and public displays of pride. But the country continues to face challenges as it recovers from the destruction and damage wrought by the war.<\/p>\n<p>Syrian officials have urged the repeal of remaining sanctions, saying that it is necessary to give the country a fighting chance at economic stability and improvement.<\/p>\n<p>Syrian central bank Governor Abdulkader Husrieh called US sanctions relief a \u201cmiracle\u201d in an interview with the news service Reuters last week.<\/p>\n<p>The United Nations Security Council also <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/11\/6\/unsc-votes-to-drop-sanctions-on-syrias-al-sharaa-ahead-of-washington-visit\">voted to remove<\/a> sanctions on al-Sharaa and Interior Minister Anas Khattab, who were previously on a list of individuals linked to ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US has rolled back a series of restrictive economic sanctions put in place during the rule of Bashar al-Assad. The United States House of Representatives has voted forward a bill that would end the restrictive Caesar Act sanctions on Syria, originally imposed during the rule of former leader Bashar al-Assad. The bid to repeal &#8230; <a title=\"US Congress advances bill to nix Caesar Act sanctions on Syria\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/us-congress-advances-bill-to-nix-caesar-act-sanctions-on-syria\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about US Congress advances bill to nix Caesar Act sanctions on Syria\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}