Trump rebuffed Israeli request to keep some sanctions on Syria — report

US president, who signed off on bill lifting Assad-era penalties Thursday, said to have offered ‘compensation’ to Jerusalem, which had hoped to use sanctions relief as bargaining chip

Aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked US President Donald Trump to retain some American sanctions on Syria as he prepared to repeal them last week, in the hope that they could be used as a bargaining chip in future negotiations, but the request was refused, according to a Hebrew media report.

The Kan public broadcaster reported Saturday that close contacts of Netanyahu placed heavy pressure on those in the Trump administration who were responsible for the Syria file to maintain some of the sanctions imposed over former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s human rights abuses.

Appeals were made to a number of senior officials, the report said, including US Ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, the US president’s son-in-law.

The US Congress imposed the so-called Caesar Act sanctions on Syria’s government and financial system in 2019 to punish Assad for abuses during the country’s nearly 14-year civil war that began in 2011.

After Assad was ousted a year ago, advocates for repeal argued that the sanctions were preventing international investors from launching reconstruction projects and blocking Syria from rebuilding its battered economy and infrastructure.

Trump, who had previously lifted the penalties temporarily by executive order, signed off on the final repeal late Thursday after Congress passed it as part of the country’s annual defense spending bill.

Syria’s foreign ministry, in a statement on Thursday, thanked the US for the repeal of sanctions and said it will “contribute to alleviating the burdens on the Syrian people and open the way for a new phase of recovery and stability.”

Kan reported on Saturday that the Trump administration promised Israel unspecified “compensation” for lifting the sanctions. Trump has expressed hope for a diplomatic accord between Israel and Syria, after the IDF seized parts of southern Syria, mostly within a UN-patrolled buffer zone, after the collapse of the Assad regime.

Israel cited fears the area would fall into the hands of terror groups who could use it as a staging ground for attacks, and said the 1974 disengagement agreement, through which the buffer zone was created, had been made temporarily void by Assad’s ouster.

IDF troops, meanwhile, have been operating in areas up to around 15 kilometers (nine miles) inside Syria, aiming to capture weapons that Israel says could pose a threat to the country if they fall into the hands of “hostile forces.”

While there was optimism in September that a deal could be signed, Reuters reported at the time of the assembly that contacts between Israel and Syria regarding the deal had reached a dead end due to Israel’s demand to open a “humanitarian corridor” into the Sweida province in southern Syria – where sectarian violence has killed hundreds of people from the Druze community, which Israel has vowed to protect.

Sources told Reuters that Israel requested early on in the talks to open a passage for delivering aid to Sweida, but Syria rejected the request, claiming it would harm its sovereignty. According to the sources, Israel repeated the demand later in the negotiations, leading progress on the agreement to stall.

Reports last month suggested Israel’s terms have since changed and it is now demanding full diplomatic relations, which Syria has said is not currently on the cards, further complicating the process.

Trump earlier this month warned Israel against destabilizing Syria and its new leadership, days after IDF soldiers battled gunmen in the country’s south, and said he is “very satisfied” with the country’s performance under new President Ahmad al-Sharaa, whose forces ousted Assad.