For the first time in 25 years, Syria’s top diplomat, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, is visiting the United States. The visit has a singular goal in mind, getting the US to permanently remove sanctions from Syria.
The bulk of the sanctions against Syria come in the form of the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019, broadly sanctioning the Assad government for war crimes during the civil war. The act allows for the State Department to suspend the sanctions for 180 days if certain conditions are met. The State Department did so in May, following President Trump’s meeting with Syria’s new leader, Ahmed Sharaa who he praised as an “attractive and tough guy.”
Permanently ending the sanctions would require an act of Congress though, and that’s where Sen. Lindsey Graham (R – SC) comes in. Graham reported that he will meet with Shaibani, and suggested possible openness to supporting ending the Caesar Act, but with conditions.
Turkish FM Hakan Fidan, Syrian FM Asaad al-Shaibani, DM Murhaf Abu Kasra and GIS Head Hussein Salama | Image from Turkish Government’s X Account
Sen. Graham said that Syria would have to join the US alliance to fight ISIS, but more importantly they would have to “make progress” on reaching a security deal with Israel.
That could be difficult, as Israel is actively invading Syria right now, though Shaibani did spend five hours yesterday meeting with an Israeli security official, Ron Dermer, in London. Syrian President Sharaa suggested a deal was possible within day.
Israeli officials were less optimistic, however, suggesting the talks had all but stalled at this point. Israel is also said to be pushing a proposed security deal which would grant Israel permanently occupations of parts of Syria, impose a demilitarized zone deeper into Syrian territory, and impose a Syria-only no-fly zone in the area of Syria southwest of Damascus. Israel was also said to demand a permanent air corridor through Syria for their warplanes so they can launch future attacks on Iran that way.
The plan was described by some officials as “maximalist” and probably is not going to be palatable for Syria. At the same time, Sen. Graham’s comments suggest that Israel may be able to use the US sanctions as leverage to try to force this deal through, as the Syrian government doesn’t want to appear to the senator as not making progress on the deal.
