US conditions for repealing the Caesar Act: Damascus under congressional oversight
In recent months, news of the lifting of US sanctions got more trend, with some official bodies celebrating this move as a de facto end to the economic blockade.
However, the reality is different, as the Caesar Act—one of the harshest sanction’s regimes imposed on Syria—hasn’t yet been completely repealed.
On October 11, the US Senate approved a proposal to repeal the Caesar Act by including it in the National Defense Authorization Act for the Department of Defense budget for 2026.
However, this proposal won’t become effective until the US House of Representatives approves all items of the budget and sends it to the US President for his official signature.
Despite an understanding among a number of lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties regarding the need to lift sanctions—most notably Republican Representative Joe Wilson and Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen—the legislative process hasn’t been without obstacles.
An amendment proposed by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham requires the US administration to assess the Syrian government’s compliance with a set of conditions every four months.
If this assessment isn’t approved twice consecutively, the sanctions are reinstated.
The Graham amendment includes a set of requirements that the Syrian government must periodically meet.
The US president is required to submit an unclassified report to Congress every 120 days detailing Damascus’s compliance.
If the Syrian government fails to demonstrate the required progress within a full year, the Caesar sanctions are automatically reinstated.
These conditions include:
- The complete elimination of ISIS and other terrorist groups.
- Syria joins the international coalition against ISIS.
- Ensuring the security and representation of religious and ethnic minorities in state institutions.
- Maintaining peaceful relations with the countries of the region, including Israel.
- Taking action against any parties that threaten the stability of neighboring countries.
- Preventing the financing or support of groups designated as terrorist by Washington and its allies.
- Keeping foreign fighters away from state institutions and security services.
- Holding those responsible for human rights violations accountable, especially those affecting minorities since December 2024.
According to the official website of the US Congress, these conditions aim to keep the Syrian government under constant surveillance, so that the sanctions are used as a political and economic pressure tactic that Washington brandishes periodically, thus limiting the ability of investors to confidently enter the Syrian market, which still faces the risk of sanctions returning at any moment.
It should be noted that sanctions on Syria under Caesar Act were partially suspended as US President Donald Trump signed a temporary executive orders, but the complete cancellation still requires the approval of the US House of Representatives, thus closing one of the most complex sanctions issues in the history of Syrian-US relations.
