US, Britain and UN lift sanctions on Syrian president

The United States, Britain and the United Nations lift sanctions on Syrian President Ahmad Sharon and Interior Minister Anas Khattab. The European Union has announced that it will follow suit.

According to the US statement, this is in recognition of the progress made by the Syrian leadership since the departure of Bashar Assad, including the fight against narcotics and the destruction of chemical weapons. Both leaders have been labelled global terrorists in the past.

Washington has been persuading the UN Security Council for months to lift the sanctions, which came a day before the Syrian president was scheduled to meet Trump at the White House. The latter had already announced a major policy reversal on Syria in May.

Shara, who replaced Assad after the victory of rebels from the Syrian group Hayat Tahrir-e-Sham (HTS), has been seeking to normalise relations with world powers. Formerly known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani, he has been sanctioned in the past for links to al-Qaeda.

The UN lifted these measures on the grounds that the ties between HTS and al-Qaeda were no longer active. The Syrian government has not yet commented on the decision.

(reuters, max)