ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Tuesday congratulated Syrians after the United States removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, thanking US President Donald Trump and other “supportive nations.”

The US Treasury announced Monday that Syria had been removed from the United States’ State Sponsors of Terrorism list after nearly five decades of being blacklisted, coming as Washington continues warming to the new Damascus administration

“Great people of Syria, you have done it again! The sanctions have been lifted and the restrictions removed,” Sharaa said in a video statement.

“Syria is shaking off a dark burden and tearing out a painful chapter of its past to embark on a path of development, reconstruction, and rebuilding,” he added.

Both French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and his Norwegian counterpart Espen Barth Eide reaffirmed their support for Syria’s transition, state media reported Monday.

European Union sanctions, which were first introduced following the Baath regime’s violent repression of civilians in 2011, were also removed in May 2025 to support the country’s transition.

In 2025, the UK and Canada removed Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) from their lists of terrorist organizations and vowed to cooperate with Damascus following what they described as positive steps by Syria’s new government after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian rebel groups, spearheaded by the Sharaa-led HTS, launched operation “Deterrence of Aggression” on November 27, 2024, seizing the capital Damascus after a 12-day blitz offensive, and ending Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year reign.

In the wake of Assad’s fall, HTS and affiliated groups dissolved, and its membership took up the reins of governance in Syria, forming a transitional government led by Sharaa as the country’s interim president.

In November, Washington removed Sharaa from its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists ahead of his visit to the White House. Syria also became the 90th partner to join the international coalition to defeat ISIS that month.

The US also temporarily suspended key Caesar Act sanctions on Damascus, a sanctions system that targeted the Syrian government and those involved in business with Damascus, cutting the country off from the global economy. The law was enacted during the rule of the deposed Baathist regime under Bashar al-Assad, while Syria was designated as a state sponsor of terror since the reign of Hafez al-Assad, the father of Bashar.

Despite criticism of Sharaa’s vision for a centralized Syria, fear of his jihadist past, and concerns over the marginalization of minorities, his government has received strong support from the US and the West.