The United States has marked one year since the fall of Bashar al Assad, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying Syria had "turned a new page" and taken "significant steps" in its political transition.
"We honour the resilience of the Syrian people and reaffirm our support for a peaceful, prosperous Syria that includes its minorities and is at peace with all its neighbours," Rubio said in a statement on X.
The bipartisan leaders of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee also welcomed the repeal of Assad-era sanctions included in the annual defence bill, calling it a milestone on the first anniversary of the collapse of Assad’s regime.
Committee Chairman Jim Risch and Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen said the "strength and resiliency of Syrians in the face of Assad’s repression—assisted by US sanctions, Russia’s reduced ability to support Assad and Israel’s shared opposition to Iranian proxies—created the conditions for the regime’s collapse and a better future for the Syrian people."
They noted that the repeal of the Caesar Act sanctions, named after the Syrian whistleblower who exposed grave human rights abuses, was a key step forward and urged swift passage of the bill.
A long road ahead
The senators said Syria’s new authorities have shown a "serious commitment" to joint counterterrorism efforts and that recent developments "provide a prospect for peace that was unthinkable just a year ago."
But they cautioned that Syria "still faces a long road ahead" and pressed Damascus to prevent a return to arbitrary detentions and sectarian violence, curb Russian and Iranian influence, destroy illicit drug and chemical weapons stockpiles and help locate missing Americans, including journalist Austin Tice.
Congress is finalising the National Defense Authorization Act, which contains the full repeal of the 2019 Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act.
The Trump administration had already suspended most of the sanctions through waivers but has pushed lawmakers to remove the restrictions entirely.
