A bipartisan pair of members of Congress visited Syria on Monday to press for a permanent repeal of U.S. sanctions that they said were holding back the country’s recovery from a brutal civil war.
The lawmakers, Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, and Representative Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina, made up the first official U.S. delegation to enter the country in years.
In meetings on Monday with Syria’s transitional president, Ahmed al-Shara, and other top officials, they maintained that removing the sanctions the United States had imposed when Bashar al-Assad was in power was key to attracting investment from regional partners, providing long-term certainty for the Syrian economy and sending an unmistakable signal of American support.
“A Syria that can stand on its own after ridding itself of the Assad regime will be a cornerstone for regional stability in the Middle East,” Ms. Shaheen said in a statement after leaving the country. “America is ready to be a partner to a new Syria that moves in the right direction.”
The Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, enacted in 2019, imposed sweeping penalties on Syria’s construction, energy and financial sectors in response to Mr. al-Assad’s atrocities during the civil war. The law, which was named for the Syrian defector who exposed evidence of torture in government prisons, aimed to choke off Mr. al-Assad’s ability to rebuild. But with him gone and a transitional government in place, both Ms. Shaheen and Mr. Wilson argued that the sanctions measure was counterproductive, deterring outside investment and stifling reconstruction.
“I, over the years, have been working with the Syrian American community, and they’ve always had a dream that one day Damascus would be free,” Mr. Wilson told reporters after his time in the country. “And I believe it has come.”
President Trump has provided temporary relief, announcing in May a pause on all sanctions on Syria. But under the bill, he can issue only temporary waivers that can be extended in 180-day increments. Repealing the legislation would eliminate the sanctions altogether, providing a stronger sense of certainty that many hope would encourage investors to make longer-term commitments without the looming possibility of economic penalties easily being put back in place.
Both Ms. Shaheen and Mr. Wilson are seeking to attach language repealing the sanctions to the annual National Defense Authorization Act, the must-pass annual Pentagon policy bill that the Senate is expected to take up next week.
The bipartisan presence by two American lawmakers reflects a broader shift in American support for uplifting the new government and seeking to support economic development in the region.
In the immediate aftermath of the fall of the Assad government, some lawmakers expressed skepticism about American involvement.
“Too much engagement too soon could create more security dilemmas, but no or too little engagement could give Russia and Iran the ability to wield substantial influence again and also signal the U.S. has no interest, which would be an incorrect assumption,” Senator Jim Risch, Republican of Idaho and the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said during a hearing in February. “Make no mistake: There are very real dangers to lifting sanctions too quickly.”
Two months later, he and Ms. Shaheen wrote a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calling for the United States to “remove barriers to expanded engagement with the Syrian interim government.”
When Mr. Trump did so this summer, both Mr. Risch and Ms. Shaheen praised the actions.
Monday’s visit by Ms. Shaheen and Mr. Wilson builds on that momentum, which reached a peak during a high-profile meeting in May between Mr. Trump and Mr. al-Shara in Saudi Arabia, where the president praised the Syrian leader as a “tough guy” with a “strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.”
That encounter was part of Mr. al-Shara’s campaign to persuade Washington to lift the sanctions and recognize Syria’s transitional government as a partner in regional stabilization.
He is expected to build upon that effort during a debut address at the United Nations General Assembly in New York next month, according to a U.S. official familiar with the planning but not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The lawmakers’ trip marks the most significant congressional engagement with Syria since the Assad government fell late last year. It also highlights bipartisan support for a robust role for the United States in supporting Syria’s transition.
Ms. Shaheen said lifting the sanctions so that companies could invest in Syria, officials could establish a functional banking system and people could get jobs was vital to restoring a sense of hope there.
“There is a long way to go, but it’s very positive and the potential is really amazing,” she said. “The people that we met with were hopeful about the future.”