The United Nations Security Council voted on Thursday to lift long-standing sanctions on Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Interior Minister Anas Khattab, paving the way for a major diplomatic thaw between Damascus and Washington.
The U.S.-drafted resolution passed with 14 votes in favor and one abstention from China, marking a decisive shift after more than a decade of punitive measures tied to Syria’s civil war.
The resolution comes days before President Ahmed al-Sharaa is set to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, the first such meeting between the two countries’ leaders since Syria’s political transition late last year.
“I think he’s doing a very good job,” President Trump said on Thursday, praising Sharaa as “a tough guy in a tough neighborhood.”
“We did take the sanctions off Syria in order to give them a fighting shot,” he told reporters in Washington.
The vote follows months of lobbying by the United States for the Security Council to ease restrictions that had limited Syria’s access to international financial systems and reconstruction funds.
China abstained from the resolution, citing unresolved concerns about counterterrorism operations inside Syria.
Ambassador Fu Cong, China’s representative to the U.N., said Beijing’s decision reflected “serious concerns about the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters, including members of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM).”
“The resolution makes it clear that Syria should take decisive actions to combat terrorist acts and respond to the threat of FTFs, which include ETIM in Syria,” Fu said.
Russia, a key ally of Syria throughout its 13-year war, supported the resolution. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow viewed it as “a reflection of the Syrian people’s aspirations and a step toward national recovery.”
“Most importantly, this resolution reflects the interests and aspirations of the Syrian people themselves,” Nebenzia told the Council.
For years, Russia shielded Syria’s former government under Bashar al-Assad, vetoing more than a dozen Western-backed resolutions during the conflict. Assad was ousted in December 2024 after insurgent forces led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) seized Damascus in a surprise offensive.
HTS, once al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, broke formal ties with the network in 2016 but remained on the U.N.’s sanctions list until this year. U.N. monitors reported in July that there were “no active ties” between HTS and al-Qaeda in 2025, according to a document seen by Reuters.
Syria’s ambassador to the U.N., Ibrahim Olabi, hailed the Council’s decision as a “message of support for Syrian women and men rebuilding their homeland.”
“The new Syria will be a success story,” Olabi told the Council. “It will be a shining model that proves that the optimal path in international relations is positive engagement and constructive cooperation.”
The lifting of U.N. and U.S. sanctions, first imposed in the early years of the war, is expected to open access to humanitarian aid, reconstruction funds, and regional investment.
Africa Digital News, New York
