ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United Nations Security Council on Thursday voted to lift terror-related sanctions from Syria’s interim president and interior minister, as Syria returns to the world stage after years of conflict and isolation.
“The Security Council decided today to remove two individuals from its Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) and Al-Qaida sanctions list – including the President appointed in the wake of Syria’s December 2024 popular uprising,” the council said in a press release after the vote that passed with 14 in favour and one abstention from China.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, who was named interim president after dictator Bashar al-Assad was ousted last December, had been sanctioned as the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda affiliate. Interior Minister Anas Khattab was also removed from the sanctions list.
Welcoming the vote, United States Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said “now is Syria’s chance at greatness. The delisting of President al-Sharaa and Interior Minister Khattab should help give the Syrian people that greatest chance.”
China’s reservation stemmed from concerns about foreign fighters who have remained in Syria. “At present, Syria is undergoing political transition with fragile security situation and an arduous task of counter-terrorism. A large number of foreign terrorist fighters have exploited this situation to their advantage, seriously threatening Syrian, regional, and international peace and security,” Ambassador Fu Cong told the council.
China is particularly concerned about the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a Muslim a separatist group founded by Uyghurs in northwest China. The United States in 2020 revoked its designation of the movement as a terrorist organization because there was no credible evidence that the group still existed. Human rights monitors accuse China of committing crimes against humanity against its Turkic Muslim population.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the Security Council’s decision. “The Syrian Arab Republic further welcomes the removal of His Excellency President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Interior Minister Anas Khattab from the previously imposed sanctions lists, in what reflects a growing trust in Sharaa’s leadership,” it said in a statement.
Sharaa has been largely warmly welcomed by the global community. He is currently attending the UN’s COP30 climate conference in Brazil where he met UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron. In September, Sharaa became the first Syrian leader to address the UN General Assembly in nearly 60 years. He is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday.