Syrian president thanks Türkiye, US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar for lifting of Caesar Act sanctions

ISTANBUL

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Friday thanked the leaders of Türkiye, US, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar for their role in lifting the Caesar Act sanctions on the country.

This came in a short video posted on his account on the US social media company X after President Donald Trump signed the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, formally ending the sanctions imposed under the Caesar Act during the rule of the ousted Bashar al-Assad regime.

“Great Syrian people, I address you today from the slopes of Mount Qasioun (in the capital Damascus) with congratulations and thanks for the lifting of sanctions on Syria. Today will be the first day of Syria without sanctions, by the grace of God Almighty, and then thanks to your efforts and your patience for 14 years,” he said.

“Great thanks to everyone who sacrificed and endured throughout the period of the blessed Syrian revolution — to everyone who inhaled chemical gas, to everyone who migrated and left their land, to everyone who drowned in the seas, and to the blood of the martyrs whose sacrifices watered this blessed land until we reached this great victory, crowned—by God’s grace—with the complete lifting of restrictions on Syria.”

The Syrian leader expressed “deep and special thanks to President Donald Trump for responding to the call of the Syrian people (to lift the sanctions), and to the members of Congress for appreciating the sacrifices of the Syrian people and responding to their call by lifting sanctions on Syria.”

He also thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for their role in ending the sanctions.

Sharaa also extended “deep thanks” to all Arab, Islamic, and European countries that supported the Syrian people during the country’s war, and those who supported the lifting of sanctions over the past year.

The 2019 Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act allowed the US to impose economic and travel sanctions on anyone, Syrian or foreign, who aids the former Assad regime’s military, intelligence, aviation, or energy-production sectors. It also targets individuals and entities that help the regime obtain goods, services, or technology that enable military operations.

Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia last December, ending the Baath Party regime, which had been in power since 1963. Sharaa’s new transitional administration was formed in January.