WASHINGTON, D.C. — Citizens for a Secure and Safe America (C4SSA) welcomes today’s announcement by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issuing General License (GL) 25, which provides sweeping sanctions relief for Syria. This decisive action, aligned with President Trump’s May 13 declaration, marks the end of a decades-long sanctions regime and the beginning of a new era for the Syrian people.
GL 25 lifts restrictions imposed under the Syrian Sanctions Regulations and authorizes investment and commercial activity across all sectors of Syria’s economy, while maintaining firm guardrails against support for terrorism, human rights abusers, drug traffickers, and foreign malign actors, including the former Assad regime and its backers in Russia, Iran, and North Korea.
“This is a historic turning point,” said Dr. Muhammad Bakr Ghbeis, President of C4SSA. “The Syrian people have endured extraordinary suffering under the Assad regime’s tyranny and crippling sanctions that, while aimed at the regime, contributed to the broader collapse of Syrian society. GL 25 clears the way for Syrians to reclaim their future, rebuild their country, and rejoin the international community.”
C4SSA applauds the concurrent waiver of the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act by the U.S. Department of State, which removes key legal barriers to foreign investment and humanitarian assistance. These combined actions will unleash critical capital and infrastructure development while helping to stabilize Syria’s economy and support its vulnerable communities.
This relief is contingent on continued progress by Syria’s new government in ensuring stability, peace, and human rights protections. C4SSA urges international partners, donors, and the private sector to respond boldly and swiftly to this opening, and to support Syria’s transition from devastation to democratic recovery.
The end of the Assad regime and the lifting of sanctions are not the end of our work—they are the beginning. We call on the U.S. to follow through with robust assistance and diplomatic support for Syria’s new government, and we call on Syrians everywhere to unite behind this unprecedented opportunity.
