Syria welcomes US decision to ease Assad-era sanctions as 'positive step'
Syria
considers the move by the
Trump administration
to ease sanctions imposed on the war-torn country as a "positive step" to ease humanitarian and economic suffering, its foreign ministry said.
In a statement, the ministry said Syria "extends its hand" to anyone that wants to cooperate with Damascus, on the condition that there is no intervention in the country's internal affairs.
The statement came after the Trump administration granted Syria sweeping exemptions from sanctions on Friday in a major first step toward fulfilling the president's pledge to lift a half-century of penalties on a country shattered by 14 years of civil war.
Thomas Barrack
, the US ambassador to Turkey who has also been appointed as special envoy for Syria, met with Syria's president and foreign minister during their visit to Turkey on Saturday, adding the President
Ahmad al-Sharaa
welcomed Washington's "fast action on lifting sanctions."
"President Trump's goal is to enable the new government to create the conditions for the Syrian people to not only survive but thrive," Barrack said in a statement.
Live Events
Barrack said he stressed that the cessation of sanctions against Syria will preserve the integrity "of our primary objective - the enduring defeat of" the Islamic State group, also known as IS or
ISIS
. He added that it will give Syrians a chance for a better future. "I also commended President al-Sharaa on taking meaningful steps towards enacting President Trump's points on foreign terrorist fighters, counter-ISIS measures, relations with Israel, and camps and detention centres in Northeast Syria," Barrack said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
2 minutes ago
- Time of India
Trump-Putin Summit In Danger? Russia Warns Of Ukraine's Deadly Provocation With Missiles, Drones
/ Aug 13, 2025, 07:01AM IST Russia warns of a major Ukrainian provocation ahead of the Trump-Putin summit. Moscow alleges Ukraine plans attacks to sabotage peace talks and blame Russia. The ministry fears the move will derail diplomacy and worsen the conflict.#russia #ukrainewar #ukraine #putin #zelensky #russiadefenceministy #lavrov #trump #usa
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
2 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Trump admin calls out human rights records of countries accepting deportees
The Trump administration on Tuesday released human rights reports for countries worldwide, which eliminate mentions of discrimination faced by LGBTQ people, reduce a previous focus on reproductive rights and criticise restrictions on political speech by US allies in Europe that American officials believe target right-wing politicians. The reports, which cover 2024 before President Donald Trump took office, reflect his administration's focus on free speech and protecting the lives of the unborn. However, the reports also offer a glimpse into the administration's view of dire human rights conditions in some countries that have agreed to accept migrants deported from the United States under Trump's immigration crackdown. This year's reports were streamlined for better utility and accessibility in the field and by partners, the State Department said. The congressionally mandated reports in the past have been frequently used for reference and cited by lawmakers, policymakers, academic researchers and others investigating potential asylum claims or looking into conditions in specific countries. The reports were delayed by the Trump administration's changes The reports had been due to be released in March. The State Department said in an overview that the delay occurred because the Trump administration decided in March to adjust the reports, which had been compiled during the Biden administration. Among other deletions, the reports do not include accounts from individual abuse survivors or witnesses. Frequently, eyewitnesses are intimidated or prevented from reporting what they know, the overview said. On the other hand, individuals and groups opposed to a government may have incentive to exaggerate or fabricate abuses. In similar fashion, some governments may distort or exaggerate abuses attributed to opposition groups. Human rights groups decried the changes in focus and omissions of certain categories of discrimination and potential abuse. The new reports reveal a disturbing effort by the Trump administration to purposefully fail to fully capture the alarming and growing attacks on human rights in certain countries around the globe, Amnesty International said in a statement. The reports do follow previous practices in criticizing widespread human rights abuses in China, Iran, North Korea and Russia. Laying out the poor human rights records of countries accepting migrant deportees Although such deportations did not begin until after Trump took office, the reports, with one notable exception, detail general poor human rights conditions in many of the countries that have agreed to accept migrants, even if they are not citizens of that nation. The exception is El Salvador, which was the first of several countries in Latin America and Africa to agree to accept non-citizen migrant deportees from the US. Despite claims from rights advocates to the contrary, the report about the country says there were no credible reports of significant human rights abuses in El Salvador in 2024 and that the government took credible steps to identify and punish officials who committed human rights abuses. Human rights groups have accused authorities of abuses, including at a notorious prison where many migrants are sent. However, for Eswatini a small country in Africa formerly known as Swaziland South Sudan and Rwanda, the reports paint a grimmer picture. All have agreed to accept third-country deportees from the United States. In all three countries, the reports noted significant human rights issues included credible reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings, torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, prohibiting independent trade unions or significant or systematic restrictions on workers' freedom of association. Those governments did not take credible steps or action to identify and punish officials who committed human rights abuses, the reports said. Singling out the treatment of white South Africans South Africa was also singled out for its human rights situation significantly worsening. The report pointed to unfair treatment of white Afrikaners following the signing of major land reforms that the Trump administration has said discriminate against that minority, which ran the country's apartheid government. That system brutally enforced racial segregation, which oppressed the Black majority, for 50 years before ending in 1994. With the signing of that law in December, the report said that South Africa took a substantially worrying step towards land expropriation of Afrikaners and further abuses against racial minorities in the country. It also said the government did not take credible steps to investigate, prosecute and punish officials who committed human rights abuses, including inflammatory racial rhetoric against Afrikaners and other racial minorities, or violence against racial minorities. This year, the administration admitted as refugees some groups of white Afrikaners. Accusations of European allies restricting right-wing speech The reports take issue with what the Trump administration believes are restrictions on free speech imposed against generally right-wing voices in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. The reports use identical language to say that human rights conditions in each of the three Nato allies worsened during the year. The executive summaries for each of the three reports say significant human rights issues included credible reports of serious restrictions on freedom of expression, including enforcement of or threat of criminal or civil laws in order to limit expression; and crimes, violence, or threats of violence motivated by antisemitism. These governments have rejected such assertions that have been made by senior US officials, including Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Targeting Brazil over allegations of restricting Bolsonaro's speech Similar freedom-of-speech issues were raised in Brazil, which has more recently provoked Trump's ire by prosecuting his ally former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro and led to the imposition of massive US tariffs and sanctions against Brazil's Supreme Court chief justice. The human rights situation in Brazil declined during the year, the report said. The courts took broad and disproportionate action to undermine freedom of speech and internet freedom by blocking millions of users' access to information on a major social media platform in response to a case of harassment. It added that the government undermined democratic debate by restricting access to online content deemed to undermine democracy and specifically mentioned suppressing the speech of Bolsonaro and his supporters. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Indian Express
23 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
Zelenskyy says Putin wants the rest of Ukraine's Donetsk region as part of a ceasefire
Seeking Trump's ear before the summit Trump has said he wants to see whether Putin is serious about ending the war, now in its fourth year. The U.S. president has disappointed allies in Europe by saying Ukraine will have to give up some Russian-held territory. He also said Russia must accept land swaps, although it was unclear what Putin might be expected to surrender. The Europeans and Ukraine are wary that Putin, who has waged the biggest land war in Europe since 1945 and used Russia's energy might to try to intimidate the EU, might secure favorable concessions and set the outlines of a peace deal without them. Referring to the format for ceasefire talks, Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that the U.S. proposed a bilateral meeting, between the U.S. and Russia, and then a trilateral meeting that would include Ukraine. Zelenskyy said the presence of Europe was important for Kyiv because these were the only partners offering security guarantees, including funding the Ukrainian army. European countries' overarching fear is that Putin will set his sights on one of them next if he wins in Ukraine. Their leaders said Tuesday they "welcome the efforts of President Trump towards ending Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine." But, they underlined, "the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine" and "international borders must not be changed by force." The Europeans on Wednesday will make a fresh attempt to rally Trump to Ukraine's cause at virtual meetings convened by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Trump did not confirm whether he would take part but did say "I'm going to get everybody's ideas" before meeting with Putin. Russia holds shaky control over four of the country's regions, two in the country's east and two in the south. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the chief of Zelenskyy's office, said anything short of Russia's strategic defeat would mean that any ceasefire deal would be on Moscow's terms, erode international law and send a dangerous signal to the world.
