Overview
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed the June 23 memo revoking HTS’s foreign terrorist organization status and it took effect with the Federal Register preview on July 7.
- The move builds on President Trump’s June 30 executive order dismantling the main U.S. sanctions program on Syria imposed under the Assad regime.
- Congressional measures such as the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act remain in force and can only be lifted through legislative action.
- HTS, which severed formal ties with al-Qaeda by 2016 and overthrew Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, now seeks international investment to rebuild war-torn Syria.
- U.S. and Syrian authorities have resumed talks on regional security, including steps to reimplement the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel.