United States removed Syria from the list of state sponsors of terrorism on Monday, where it had been included since 1979, following the restoration of relations between the two countries in 2025.
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“Today, I authorized the formal revocation of Syria’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (SST), following the conclusion of the mandatory 45-day notification period to Congress,” announced U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement.
Washington also announced that it no longer considers Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) a “global terrorist organization,” whose former leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is the current Syrian president.
Rubio stated that these measures “represent another historic step by President Trump to provide the Syrian people a path to prosperity” after announcing in June 2025 a progressive lifting of sanctions imposed on the Arab country.
“All these measures were taken in recognition of the positive actions undertaken and commitments made by the Syrian government under the presidency of Ahmed al-Sharaa to completely dissociate from acts of international terrorism,” the Secretary of State justified.
Rubio praised the Syrian government’s action to “combat terrorism” such as the formal adherence last November to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, led by the U.S., and the operation to dismantle networks of this organization and Al Qaeda, as well as Hezbollah and other groups aligned with Iran.
Al Sharaa, who led the rebel forces that overthrew President Bashar al Assad, was received in November 2025 by Trump in a historic visit to the White House that inaugurated a new period of diplomatic relations.
Trump praised the Syrian leader and staged a shift in U.S. policy after decades of sanctions and diplomatic isolation.
With the removal of the Arab nation, the blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism now includes Iran, added in 1984, North Korea, added in 2017, and Cuba, removed in 2015 by former President Barack Obama and reinstated by Trump in 2021.
Joe Biden removed the Caribbean island again before finishing his term, and Trump included it again in January 2025.
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