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President Donald Trump signed an executive order lifting most US sanctions on Syria this week, cementing a sea change in his country’s approach to Damascus. What explains the shift, and what could future relations look like?

In Syria, violence continued between rival factions even after a ceasefire deal. Government troops withdrew overnight from a region as Israel said it would not allow Syrian forces south of Damascus, extending its attempted control of the area.

New assessment of Iran strike, Trump rejected more punishing campaign, Zelensky appoints new U.S. emissary, Petraeus: U.S. weapons may not turn the tide.

This escalation threatens Washington’s nascent normalization track with Syria’s interim president, and former jihadist Ahmed al‑Sharaa. President Trump publicly courted Sharaa in Riyadh in May, providing sanctions relief and a future place in the Abraham Accords, a plan now in doubt after Israel’s strike on Damascus.

US policy is to have one Syria and one army there and not support federalism. US Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack has a clear message for the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

For weeks, Israel has engaged in back-channel talks over a diplomatic agreement with the Syrian government. Its strikes on Damascus this week highlight a lack of strategic clarity.

Sham's terror designation, following the decision to lift Syria sanctions in order to aid its reconstruction after HTS ousted Assad.

Trump signed an executive order removing the sanctions on Syria “This order supports United States ... Barrack has played a key role over the last month and a half in reshaping US policy on ...

Russian President Vladimir Putin had backed the now-deposed Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. AP. Biden outlined several pillars of US policy toward Syria in the meantime, including further ...

President Trump draws his own red line. — -- Just two days after the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad apparently deployed chemical weapons on his own people again, President Trump ...