Never let it be said that the Trump administration or, in particular, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is afraid to take bold steps. One in a while, though, a certain action has the chance of making more than a few people think, "I hope he knows what he's doing."
Case in point: Secretary Rubio, who is probably the best Secretary of State since Cordell Hull, has announced that Syria is no longer officially listed by the United States as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Today, I authorized the formal rescission of Syria’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (SST), following the conclusion of the mandatory 45-day Congressional notification period. I have also delisted Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) designation as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). These actions represent another historic step by President Trump to give the Syrian people a path to prosperity.
In the past year the Trump Administration has taken unprecedented steps to provide sanctions relief for the benefit of the Syrian people. The historic June 2025 Executive Order ‘Providing for the Revocation of Syria Sanctions’ accelerated the process of sanctions relief for Syria, including by terminating the Syria Sanctions Program and the national emergency with respect to Syria, and directing reviews on various Syria-related sanctions and terrorist designations.
Here's what's interesting about this: Syria's current leader, Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, has a distinctly checkered background. During the Syrian uprising that led to the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, al-Sharaa took orders from al-Qaeda's local goblin, one emir Ayman al-Zawahiri, to establish an al-Qaeda presence in Syria. To that end, al-Sharaa formed something called the Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ash-Shām, or "Front of the Supporters of the People of the Levant." This guy was funded and supplied by al-Qaeda.
Now, granted, he later broke things off with al-Qaeda. When the Assad regime fell for good, al-Sharaa served first as the interim leader of Syria and then, in 2025, he took control of the provisional government. One of his priorities in that role was getting Western sanctions lifted from Syria.
That would appear to be about to happen now.
The State Department press release concludes:
These actions were all taken in recognition of the positive actions taken and further commitments by the Syrian government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa to fully distance Syria from acts of international terrorism. In the past year, the Government of Syria has taken significant steps to counter terrorism, to include formally joining the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in November and conducting operations to disrupt the terror networks of ISIS, al-Qa’ida, Hizballah, and Iran-aligned groups. Rescinding Syria’s designation as an SST and HTS’ designation as an SDGT eliminates the final major barriers for private sector investment in Syria and promotes Syria’s economic recovery and reintegration into the global economy.
Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa may have turned over a new leaf since his affiliation with al-Qaeda. He isn't known to have taken any hostile action against the United States since he came to power, although there have been missiles and drones launched by Iranian forces aimed at American service members and installations in Syria. It certainly looks as though al-Sharaa has broken ties with the infamous terrorist goblins.
But trust runs very thin in this part of the world. Alliances and expectations can change with the speed of summer lightning. Secretary Rubio is a great Secretary of State, and his career in that role to date has been outstanding. In this case, though, he would be well-advised to keep one eye firmly focused on what Syria is saying, and more importantly, what it is doing.
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