The 18 months that reopened Syria's digital economy
From the fall of the regime to the repeal of the Caesar Act: a precise timeline of how the world's most comprehensive sanctions program was dismantled — and what's still in force.
Shashi Ghosh / UnsplashIf you build, invest, or hire in Syria, the sanctions timeline isn't history — it's your compliance baseline. Here is the chain of events, with dates, as precisely as the public record allows.
The timeline
- December 2024 — the Assad regime falls; a transitional government takes office.
- February 24, 2025 — the EU lifts sanctions in key sectors: energy, transport, banking.
- April 2025 — the UK lifts sanctions on Syrian government bodies, including ministries.
- May 13, 2025 — President Trump, in Riyadh, announces the US will lift sanctions on Syria.
- May 20–28, 2025 — the EU announces and then legally adopts the lifting of all economic sanctions; the Central Bank of Syria is among the delisted entities.
- May 23, 2025 — the US Treasury issues General License 25; the State Department waives Caesar Act sanctions for 180 days.
- June 30, 2025 — Executive Order 14312 revokes the six executive orders underpinning the US Syria sanctions program, effective July 1.
- August 26, 2025 — the Syrian Sanctions Regulations are removed from the US Code of Federal Regulations.
- August 28, 2025 — the US Commerce Department relaxes export controls, creating License Exception SPP for most civilian goods, software, and technology.
- November 6–7, 2025 — the UN and US delist President Ahmed al-Sharaa and the interior minister from terrorism sanctions lists.
- December 18, 2025 — the Caesar Act is permanently repealed in the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act.
What remains in force
This is not a clean slate. Sanctions remain on Bashar al-Assad and his associates, human rights abusers, Captagon traffickers, ISIS and Al-Qaeda affiliates, and Iran-linked actors — the US now runs these under a renamed targeted program. The EU keeps its Assad-era listings (renewed to June 2027), its arms embargo, and restrictions on internal-repression technology. Syria also remains on the FATF grey list, so banks worldwide apply enhanced scrutiny.
Why the repeal matters more than the waiver
Between May and December 2025, US relief rested on a general license and a renewable waiver — revocable instruments that made long-horizon investors nervous. The congressional repeal of the Caesar Act converted 'relief that could be un-signed' into 'law that would need a new act of Congress to reverse.' That's the difference between a market you visit and a market you build in.